According to the Politico’s Jonathan Martin, what President Obama has gotten from his European trip so far is, “Adulation, but little help.”
In Martin’s words:
President Barack Obama is learning the limits of personal diplomacy. Warmly greeted by European leaders and the public alike as a welcome relief from his predecessor, Obama’s appeal hasn’t enabled to him to bridge differences on key economic and military issues with American allies. Obama left the G-20 summit in London without securing any further commitment by individual countries to enact more stimulus spending. And Saturday he departs from NATO’s gathering in this French-German border town without a pledge by allies to send further combat troops to Afghanistan to bolster the American military surge there.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos put it this way:
He did not get the kind of help we would like for combat troops in Afghanistan — not as much help as we would like on Guantanamo … But all the mood music on this trip couldn’t have gone better.
President Obama has done well in terms of his own commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan. But his overseas trip underscores what may be one of the chief weaknesses of Obama: he seemingly cares a great deal about “mood music” and the adoration of foreign audiences and foreign leaders; what he’s not able to do — at least so far, based on his maiden overseas trip — is leverage it in a way that advances American interests.
To be well-liked by Europeans is not an achievement by itself; all you have to do is to bow to their demands and, from time to time, criticize the actions of your own country, preferably on European soil. The trick is to use the good feelings Europeans might have toward us to advance America and the causes for which she stands. Adulation for its own sake is simply narcissism satisfied.
Beyond that, it’s safe to assume that the weakness Obama has demonstrated in his relations with Europeans so far — hoping for assistance on a range of issues but getting very little in return, and with no cost to our allies for their unhelpfulness — has not gone unnoticed in foreign capitals like Tehran and Pyongyang.
What is happening was fairly predictable: Obama’s charm has been an enormously effective instrument in American politics. But once he takes it overseas, it becomes increasingly limited in its effectiveness, or of no value whatsoever.
Right now we have a President who is popular but appears to be weak. By way of comparison, Ronald Reagan was unpopular in much of the world — Europeans viewed Reagan with utter contempt at the time — but strong. We’ll see who ends up as the more successful president.
