Global Recession, Security Challenges Test Obama's Popularity Among World Leaders

[rushmc 23]

Hard to believe. After all, he was going to save the US if not the world.



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/25/global-recession-tests-obamas-popularity-world-leaders/
From France to Poland, from the Czech Republic to China, nations are rebuffing President Obama and offering little wiggle room for him to negotiate economic and security policies.
By Stephen Clark

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, March 25, 2009


Only nine months ago, when he addressed an estimated 200,000 people in Germany, Barack Obama was heralded as "president of the world."

But now that he's president of the United States, the world doesn't appear to be following up on its endorsement.

From France to Poland, from the Czech Republic to China, many nations are rebuffing the president and offering little wiggle room for him to negotiate economic and security policies.

Obama faces his first major international test next week when the world's largest economies meet at the G20 summit in London.

"I think as the president heads to Europe, he faces a huge public relations disaster," said Nile Gardiner, director of the conservative Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.

"Europe is increasingly turning against his massive spending plans, which most European leaders see as a destructive way to move forward for the global economy and will only add to a massive American debt burden," Gardiner told FOXNews.com.

"At the same time, there is a growing impression across Europe that the Obama administration is inept and inefficient and increasingly poorly managed."

A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed Obama's plans for the U.S. to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who lost a confidence vote in his own parliament this week and whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

That followed concerns by Poland that the U.S., as a way to appease Russia, plans to bail out of a missile defense shield the Bush administration negotiated with Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Russian generals, and even the Russian president, still continues to threaten us with the deployment of medium-range missiles in our immediate vicinity," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., in Brussels on Sunday. "So we signed with the previous administration. We patiently wait for the decision of the new administration and we hope we don't regret our trust in the United States."

Most European leaders favor tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. has been pushing for larger economic stimulus plans.

"We consider that in Europe we have already invested a lot for the recovery, and that the problem is not about spending more, but putting in place a system of regulation so that the economic and financial catastrophe that the world is seeing does not reproduce itself," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference in Berlin last week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, rebuffing U.S. calls to spend more.

"I think it's fair to say on these economic issues, there seems to be a critical divide between the U.S. and some of our friends in Europe that is going to make it more difficult for the G20 to be successful," said Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings Institution.

But Sawhill and other economists downplay the growing friction between Obama and Europe.

"I don't think it has much of anything to do with him," Sawhill told FOXNews.com. "I think it has to do with a disagreement about what's the best response to the global recession. And many of the European countries are uncomfortable about the pressure they [see] us bringing to bear on them to stimulate the economy as much as we have ours."

Brad Setser, a fellow in geo-economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, added that disagreements like these are inevitable.

"I would say as any government or administration starts putting concrete proposals on the table, there are bound to be differences of opinion," he said. "And the Obama administration sought correctly to encourage Europe to respond as aggressively to the downturn in Europe as the U.S. has here."

Setser added, "A little bit of disagreement is healthy because it signals that countries are seriously debating and discussing the policy measures that are needed to get out of the current downturn."

But Europe isn't the only international ally that could turn on Obama. Australia's leadership, whose longtime enthusiastic support for America had buttressed the Bush administration, is reluctant to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Australia is a crucial U.S. ally in the Afghan war, and the largest contributor of forces outside NATO. In a meeting Tuesday with Obama, Australian President Kevin Rudd sidestepped talk about Australia's plans for Afghanistan and instead concentrated on agreements over global climate change.

"But we look forward very much to partnering with the United States in dealing with this big one for the future," Rudd said. "It's going to be tough, it's going to be hard, it's going to require a lot of political leadership. But with our partners around the world, I think our governments are determined to make a difference, and not just to push this one away permanently in the 'too hard' basket. I think that's good.

"And I'd just say it's great to have America on board. It's great to have America on board on this one. And, Mr. President, to see the return of U.S. global economic leadership. We appreciate that very much, and it's going to be necessary in the difficult times which lie ahead for certain," he said.

China, meanwhile, is expressing serious reservations about owning U.S. debt. And in the latest sign of Beijing's growing assertiveness on the international stage, China's central bank has called for the creation of a new global currency as an alternative to the dollar, .

China has more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries and other government securities. As the U.S. government ramps up spending to stimulate the economy and assist the battered financial sector, Chinese officials have said they are worried that inflation will result, which would erode the value of their dollar holdings.

In his press conference Tuesday night, Obama said the dollar is "extraordinarily strong right now" and attributed that to investors who "consider the United States the strongest economy in the world with the most stable political system in the world."

He added that while he hasn't looked at polling from around the world, U.S. efforts are paying off globally.

"I think it's fair to say that the response that people have had to our administration and the steps that we've taken are ones that are restoring a sense of confidence and the ability of the United States to assert global leadership," the president said.

Gardiner said Obama has an opportunity to put lingering concerns about his leadership to rest at next week's summit.

"I think Obama's trip to Europe next week is going to be critically important in terms of how he is perceived as a statesman on the world stage," Gardiner said, "and this is a make-or-break trip for the new president at time when many are questioning American global leadership."

He added that Obama has to present himself as a statesman with authority and a clear sense of direction.

"At present, the White House looks rudderless and confused," Gardiner said. "He must, above all, reassure the world that the United States rejects protectionism and that the United States also is not going to be overwhelmed by a mountain of debt that is going to tie the world's only superpower down for decades."

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[kelpdiver 2]

Oooh, a fox columnist who doesn't like Obama. What are the odds?

> Most European leaders favor tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. has been pushing for larger economic stimulus plans.

It's interesting to keep reading this, when European companies are notorious for playing loose with the books, and the regulation there is much laxer than has existed in the US. Of course they're suggesting tight regulation - that's to make up for the failure of what currently exists there.

[rushmc 23]

Quote

Oooh, a fox columnist who doesn't like Obama. What are the odds?

> Most European leaders favor tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. has been pushing for larger economic stimulus plans.

It's interesting to keep reading this, when European companies are notorious for playing loose with the books, and the regulation there is much laxer than has existed in the US. Of course they're suggesting tight regulation - that's to make up for the failure of what currently exists there.

Yes, and would that raise more concerns than comfort to you?

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[Nelyubin 0]

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"Russian generals, and even the Russian president, still continues to threaten us with the deployment of medium-range missiles in our immediate vicinity," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Rep.

Threatened? Do not tell my тапки. Notify.

Russia a free country (is not under occupation), and may place on its territory that he wants where it wants and when.

[dreamdancer 0]

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Gordon Brown's hopes of kick-starting the world economy with a massive cash injection into its financial system have evaporated in the face of resistance led by France and Germany.

The Prime Minister had originally envisaged that Thursday's meeting of the G20 leaders of the most powerful economies would take dramatic action to combat recession.

But British ministers, fearing a stock- market slide this Friday triggered by headlines suggesting that the summit had failed, have been forced to scale back their expectations.

The communiqué to be signed by world leaders on Thursday is expected to contain only a vague commitment by leaders to take all the necessary steps to boost recovery.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, backed by other EU nations, have opposed fresh efforts to pump-prime their economies. And yesterday the Chinese government indicated it was not bringing its cheque book to the summit.

Last week Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, also warned against significant extra spending by the UK Government.

Diplomatic tensions ran high yesterday as the German government was forced to deny it had engineered the leaks of two draft communiqués, drawn up in advance of the gathering, to weaken the British position.

The German magazine Der Spiegel said it had obtained a leak of a paper prepared by Britain calling for a $2 trillion-dollar (£1.4tr) global fiscal stimulus. The draft claimed that the massive cash injection would boost growth by 2 per cent and create 19 million jobs.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/prime-minister-loses-battle-for-global-stimulus-1657035.html

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[rushmc 23]

Quote

Quote

Gordon Brown's hopes of kick-starting the world economy with a massive cash injection into its financial system have evaporated in the face of resistance led by France and Germany.

The Prime Minister had originally envisaged that Thursday's meeting of the G20 leaders of the most powerful economies would take dramatic action to combat recession.

But British ministers, fearing a stock- market slide this Friday triggered by headlines suggesting that the summit had failed, have been forced to scale back their expectations.

The communiqué to be signed by world leaders on Thursday is expected to contain only a vague commitment by leaders to take all the necessary steps to boost recovery.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, backed by other EU nations, have opposed fresh efforts to pump-prime their economies. And yesterday the Chinese government indicated it was not bringing its cheque book to the summit.

Last week Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, also warned against significant extra spending by the UK Government.

Diplomatic tensions ran high yesterday as the German government was forced to deny it had engineered the leaks of two draft communiqués, drawn up in advance of the gathering, to weaken the British position.

The German magazine Der Spiegel said it had obtained a leak of a paper prepared by Britain calling for a $2 trillion-dollar (£1.4tr) global fiscal stimulus. The draft claimed that the massive cash injection would boost growth by 2 per cent and create 19 million jobs.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/prime-minister-loses-battle-for-global-stimulus-1657035.html

I read that yersterday too.

I wonder how long it will take for that level of right thinking to get over here?

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[bodypilot90 0]

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I wonder how long it will take for that level of right thinking to get over here?

2-4 years, when the extreemest are out of power,

[billvon 3,120]

Ah, it seemed like only yesterday when the Obama-haters were claiming he was a secret socialist and would cozy up to the French socialists after he was elected. Traitor! He is clearly unfit to be president.

Now he is pissing off the French socialists by not doing what they want. Idiot! He is clearly unfit to be president.

Well, at least your hatred of Obama is consistent. But fear not; it will all be over in 8 years.

[rushmc 23]

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Quote

I wonder how long it will take for that level of right thinking to get over here?

2-4 years, when the extreemest are out of power,

With a wink it is posted!
(nothing aimed at you)

But your post sparked something I have been thinking about. And what I have been thinking about was a 10 minute rant I heard on Glen Beck the other day.

In short, he was talking about the line between Socialism/ Marxism/ Communism et al (pick your own term) and anarchy.

On the left of that line you have one of the three listed, and to the right anarchy.

Whether you believe in this linear comparison or not is not where he went with this. (It is not where I am going either) So, for the purpose of this post just go with it.

On the left, are both Democrats and Republicans. Both parties wishing/ wanting to remove freedoms. These/those freedoms are being killed/removed by regulation, court interventions, taxes, laws and any other term you may want to add to this list. The ONLY difference between the two are which freedoms they would control first.

Way to the left is no controls. No government or law. Anarchy.

Somewhere, just to the left (but really close to anarchy) are the Libertarians.


Hmmm

So, as a country are we moving (and some would argue effectively that we have already moved) slowly, incrementally, but steadily, to the left? Pulled, pushed and dragged that way by both parties? If so, what do we do?

For me this comes close to describing what is happening today in the US. Think bail outs, Patriot Act, government control of banks and executive pay, power abuses of OSHA, the EPA and DNR and the endangered species act. Government support of unions and special interests as is happening in the current bail out package (ACORN and others) CARB and CAFÉ standards used to push ideas and agendas. Special interests controlling the votes of congress. The teachers union and the lawyers lobby comes to mind here (off the top of my head) The killing of industries like coal and nuclear via environmental and tax law. Government support through tax law of (insert your favorite or most hated business or industry here). Court interpretations of the Constitution that are clearly outside the intent. Separation of church and state, gun control, what and what is not free speech, attempts to create special groups under the law under the guise of “fairness” like gays, women and minorities. The placement of the so called HATE CRIMES LAWS. Political correctness in government and in the press. States tax dollars for schools sent to Washington so the Dept of Education can dictate what schools shall and shall not teach.

And I am very sure both Republicans and Democrats could list their pet hates and loves at infinitum here.

Now ,I purposefully tried to list things both sides hate or love and I know this list is painfully short of what is going on. I do function under my biases as any of you would here as well. I acknowledge my limitations and I am not trying to be one sided purposefully.

My point? I am beginning to think our government pushes/allows/wants us to fight one side against the other. Why? It distracts us from is really happening.

Thoughts?

(this could go anywhere)

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

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Ah, it seemed like only yesterday when the Obama-haters were claiming he was a secret socialist and would cozy up to the French socialists after he was elected. Traitor! He is clearly unfit to be president.

Now he is pissing off the French socialists by not doing what they want. Idiot! He is clearly unfit to be president.

Well, at least your hatred of Obama is consistent. But fear not; it will all be over in 8 years.

Your posts are getting more paniod and emotional all the time. you feeling ok? I have a feeling you man is starting to worry you but you have all us friends here to say hey, we told you so

In any event, I dont hate him, never have, I just dont support his direction for the country, never will. I did not support all of what Bush wanted either. It just happened that most of the discussion on this site was over the war. Which I still support.

Obama is not a secret socialist. He is an addmitted one. And he is proving it daily. Along with help fromt he republicans who are more socialist than conservative but that just seems to be the direction of the country at this time. At minimum the direction of our government.

Sorry you think he is an idiot. I dont. I just think he has gone too far for even most in the EU. Now THAT I could not have predicted.

Hope you get to feeling better. Maybe Obama will move more toward the center if he is forced too and you will stop calling him an idiot.

Again, I dont think he is an idiot, I just think he is as smart as you Obama worshippers do..........

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[billvon 3,120]

Your ODS is showing; you're no longer making any sense at all.

[rushmc 23]

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Your ODS is showing; you're no longer making any sense at all.

ODS??

My you must be proud of your originality

But, in order for me to understand your post here , please give me examples of my "ODS"

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln