Der Spiegel: This Obama Fellow Is Quite The Wimp, Isn't He?

Ouch because it's true.

In Tokyo, the new center-left government even pulled out of its participation in a mission which saw the Japanese navy refueling US warships in the Indian Ocean as part of the Afghanistan campaign. In Beijing, Obama failed to achieve any important concessions whatsoever. There will be no binding commitments from China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revaluation of the Chinese currency, which is kept artificially weak, has been postponed. Sanctions against Iran? Not a chance. Nuclear disarmament? Not an issue for the Chinese.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

...Obama's new foreign policy has also been relatively unsuccessful elsewhere, with even friends like Israel leaving him high and dry. For the government of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, peace is only conceivable under its terms. Netanyahu has rejected Obama's call for a complete moratorium on the construction of settlements. As a result, Obama has nothing to offer the Palestinians and the Syrians. "We thought we had some leverage," says Martin Indyk, a former ambassador to Israel under the Clinton administration and now an advisor to Obama. "But that proved to be an illusion."

I love me some schadenfreude as much as anyone (especially made in the original German) but this is serious stuff. There's no issue on the world stage where we are better off than we were a year ago (except maybe Iraq and that's no thanks to Obama). I know Team Obama says all this self induced humiliation will pay dividends down the road but as the Der Speigel article goes on to note, Jimmy Carter tried this and we all know how that ended.

I know this all stuff we've saying here for almost two years now but the world is finally catching up and realizing 52% of Americans elected an empty suit as President (and not even a nice hand tailored one but an off the rack, department store clearance sale suit).

The world is a tough place. Foreign leaders don't care how dreamy your eyes are or what your pecs are like. They want to know how much they can get from you or how hard you are going to push them to get what you want. Right now, friend and foe alike is finding out Obama is a soft touch. That's not good for us and it's not good for the world.

Gotta hand it to Team McCain, they nailed this one.

posted by DrewM. at 12:06 PM

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