Obama: “We’ve restored America’s standing in the world”

Obama: “We’ve restored America’s standing in the world”

The only thing that has “changed” internationally is the fact that we now have a President who emanates nothing but naiveté, weakness and a seriousness for photo ops instead of results:

Obama’s Popularity Doesn’t Mean Much Abroad
As ever, countries have interests, not friends.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124000916299330597.html#mod=rss_opinion_main

George W. Bush was heartily disliked in Europe west of Warsaw, and Mr. Obama is universally loved. But how well does that popularity translate into power? How far could President Obama push his agenda with, say, German Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Nicolas Sarkozy? About as far as you can throw a piano.

You know Paris Hilton and David Letterman are popular to.
They also possess the same amount of foreign policy experience as Mr. 57 states and probably would have accomplished as little as he has also.

Obama: a flop on the international stage
posted at 4:10 pm on September 21, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/21/obama-a-flop-on-the-international-stage/

But eight months after his inauguration, all that good will so far has translated into limited tangible policy benefits for Mr. Obama. As much as they may prefer to deal with Mr. Obama instead of his predecessor, George W. Bush, foreign leaders have not gone out of their way to give him what he has sought.

Failure is what you get when your foreign policy platform is pretty much made up of “I’m not Bush”.

Hope and Change in Iran:

“They are saying: ‘Let’s negotiate and build relations.’ They use the slogan of ‘change.’ Well, where is this change? What has changed? Make it clear to us – what has changed? Has your hostility to the Iranian people changed? Where is the sign of that? Have you released the Iranian assets? Have you lifted the unjust sanctions? Have you stopped the mud-slinging, the accusations, and the propaganda against this great nation and its leaders, who rose from among the people? Have you stopped your unconditional defense of the Zionist regime?

What has changed? They use the slogan of change, but in fact, there is no evidence of change. We have not seen any change. Not even the discourse has changed. The new American president, from the very first moment – when he entered office and made his speech – insulted Iran and the government of the Islamic Republic

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday in Tehran that Iran wouldn’t send any of its uranium out of the country, as envisioned in a deal struck Oct. 1 between Iranian negotiators and counterparts from the U.S., France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Two United Nations Security Council diplomats said they view the deal as essentially dead, but expect council members to wait until the end of the year before pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran.

There is growing concern among Washington’s European and Middle East allies that with the deal potentially evaporating, the White House’s engagement policy toward Tehran is adrift. Mr. Obama has set a year-end deadline for Iran to respond to his overtures, but Western diplomats said there remains little confidence that China or Russia will agree to coercive action.

But …But…But Obama is not Bush.Everybody is supposed to make nice now.

Hope and Change in France:

World Agenda: Nicolas Sarkozy puts Barack Obama in the doghouse

Mr Sarkozy is pouring cold water on President Obama’s efforts to recast American leadership on the world stage, depicting them as unoriginal, unsubstantial and overrated.

Jack Kelly tells Fox News that his sources say that French president Nicolas Sarkozy considers Barack Obama “incredibly naive and grossly egotistical,” which says something coming from France. Naivete can be cured if the afflicted is willing to learn, but Kelly also says that Sarkozy is convinced that “nothing can dent [Obama's] naivete,”

Never thought I would see the day that the French leadership was stronger and smarter than the American leadership.

Hope and Change in Germany:

The horror!…
Even the Bush-hating, America-bashing Der Spiegel is mocking Dear Leader.
When far left German news mag starts bashing Obama you know the honeymoon is officially over.

The occupant of the White House may have changed recently. But the amount of ill-advised ideology coming from Washington has remained constant. Obama’s list of economic errors is long — and continues to grow.

…

Ex-President Bush was nothing if not zealous in his worldwide campaign against terror, transgressing human rights and breaking international law along the way. Now, Obama is displaying the same zeal in his own war against the financial crisis — and his weapon of choice is the money-printing machine. The rules the new American

president is breaking are those which govern the economy. Nobody is being killed. But the strategy comes at a price — and that price might be America’s position as a global power.

Looks like Germany does not watch Olbermann and Matthews either.

Hope and Change in China:

Jim McGregor, who runs the JL McGregor research company in Beijing and used to head the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that where US leaders once came to Beijing to hand out lectures, now they came to “kiss up”.

He came bearing a long shopping list, including Chinese support for tougher sanctions on Iran and more flexibility by Beijing on currency exchange rates, but Obama was met with polite, yet stony, silences. . . . Not only is the U.S. president coming away without any definable concessions, but the Chinese appeared to be digging in their heels. . . .

Perhaps most disappointing was China’s failure to budge in its opposition to tougher sanctions on Iran. With their extensive oil interests influencing their policies toward Tehran, the Chinese are increasingly seen as an obstacle to reining in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. . . .

Another trip…Another failure.
It’s okay though because Obama speaks so well.
He has a gift you know.

Hope and Change in Japan:

But Mr. Obama quickly discovered that popularity on the Asian streets did not necessarily translate into policy successes behind closed doors in the Kantei, the Japanese White House,

Hope and Change in Europe:

Why Europe Feels Rejected by Obama

Now, Denis MacShane, a former British minister for Europe, who met with other Atlanticists at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh over the weekend, describes the circumstances this way: “There’s a growing worry everywhere in Europe that we have the first U.S. president since 1945 to show no interest in what’s happening on this side of the relationship.”

Downing Street has hit back at  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for attacking the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.

President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland – but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was ‘disingenuous’.

British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return.

The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.

‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.

Nothing like pissing off our strongest ally.
Way to go with the “smart Power”.

Hope and Change in Russia:

Moscow Welcomes News on Missile Shield, Sees No Concessions in Return

Russia on Thursday welcomed the news that the U.S. administration will drop plans to deploy a nuclear missile defense shield in Europe, but said it saw no reason to offer concessions in return.

Russia: New sanctions on Iran “counterproductive”

Russian security advisor: We reserve the right to nuke you preemptively

Putin has been bit#h slapping Obama since day one.
Russia has got to be rolling on the floor laughing at our Paparazzi President.

Hope and Change in N. Korea:

“The six-party talks are over,” spokesman Ri Hung Sik said, because of the “deep-rooted anti-North Korean policy” of the United States. North Korea rarely holds media events, so the decision to speak to reporters was significant.

PHUKET, Thailand, July 23 — The war of words between North Korea and the United States escalated Thursday, with North Korea’s Foreign Ministry lashing out at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in unusually personal terms for “vulgar remarks” that it said demonstrated “she is by no means intelligent.”

“We cannot but regard Mrs. Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to North Korean media. “Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping.”

That’s alright…Hillary will give them another basketball and everything will be alright.

Hope and Change for Israeli/Palestinian :

Administration missteps hamper Mideast efforts

>Daniel Levy, a veteran Israeli peace negotiator now at the Century Foundation in Washington, summed up the administration’s efforts in recent days as “amateur night at the Apollo Theater.” He said the administration did not game out the consequences of its demands on the parties — and then flinched. “They just dug deeper and deeper their own grave,” he said. “All of this talk of negotiations doesn’t cut the mustard in the region.”

Palestinians accuse U.S. of killing peace prospects

“The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel’s intransigence and America’s back-pedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

Wow!!!…but don’t worry,the adults are in charge.

Hope and Change in Pakistan:

Analysis: For Clinton, tough talk but few results

On her most ambitious and contentious overseas trip as secretary of state, Clinton had to resort to damage control after she appeared to mangle the Obama administration’s message on frozen Mideast peace talks.

“Your presence in the region is not good for peace,” he said, referring to the U.S. military, “because it gives rise to frustration and irritation among the people of this region.” At another point he told Clinton, “Please forgive me, but I would like to say we’ve been fighting your war.”

A similar point was made by Sana Bucha of Geo TV during the live broadcast interview.

“It is not our war,” she told Clinton. “It is your war.” She drew a burst of applause when she added, “You had one 9/11. We are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan.”

Hope and Change in Afghanistan:

U.S. holds out olive branch to non-violent Taliban

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The United States offered Taliban fighters who renounce violence in Afghanistan an “honorable form of reconciliation” on Tuesday as part of a revamped strategy to tackle a deepening insurgency.

Reality sets in……

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of “honorable reconciliation,” a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a “lunatic idea” and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

“This matter was also raised in the past,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, referring to comments last month by Obama, who spoke of reaching out to moderate Taliban.

The Afghans/Pakistanis don’t care what the Obama administration has to say because they know they are cutting and running.

Hope and Change for the Czech’s:

Czech PM attacks Obama spending

The Czech prime minister has condemned US President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plans as “a way to hell”.

He attacked the US’s growing budget deficit and the “Buy America” campaign, saying “all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell”.
“We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way,” he said.

Czech Officials :Obama Let Us down

A long-time aide to former Czech Republic President Havel tells Fox News Havel other Czech politicians are “let down” by the apparent decision by the Obama administration to scrap a missile shield program which would have included basing in Czech Republic and Poland

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak
It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits Barack Obama when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, writes Nile Gardiner.
 
By Nile Gardiner
Published: 8:34AM BST 23 Sep 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6221379/The-UN-loves-Barack-Obama-because-he-is-weak.html

The Obama administration is now overseeing and implementing the biggest decline in American global power since Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately it may well take another generation for the United States to recover.

Yea…it’s a good thing Obama has come to change the world for us.

This will make a great fairy tale to tell my grandchildren along with Jack and the Beanstalk.

We could call it “The liberal messiah who promised Unicorns but delivered Goats.”

Baxter Greene on November 18, 2009 at 11:14 PM

Uh, hem… I surrender. Thank you. *steps away from the podium*

Mojave Mark on November 18, 2009 at 11:25 PM

And Obama could give less of a sh!t because it is the American public(especially the American Soldier) who has to suffer the consequences of Obama’s failures and arrogance.

Baxter Greene on November 18, 2009 at 11:29 PM