This week’s report card for the traveling President Obama found our graders John Zogby and Jed Babbin somewhat agreeing that it his lame-duck foreign travel wasn’t up to par.
John Zogby
A mixed week for President Obama. Applications for jobless benefits were down again to a record low which, according to economists, means healthy job growth and more people in the workforce.
The President’s poll numbers are again at 49 percent approval. But the president’s trip abroad is full of high risk and controversy. He needed to mend fences with Saudi Arabia after his Iran nuclear deal, but the Saudis are in the news because of their potential role in 9/11, their awful human rights record, and their heavy-handedness in Yemen. Then off to UK where he weighed in on the need for Britain to remain in the European Union — winning him a blast from the Mayor of London. But he is the president and got a meeting with Queen Elizabeth.
Grade C+
Jed Babbin
Though many foreign leaders may have hoped that President Obama’s visits to Saudi Arabia and Britain this week would be his last attempts at overseas diplomacy, Obama seemed oddly encouraged by his week of grandiose irrelevance. Landing in Riyadh, Obama was snubbed by King Salman’s absence at the airport welcome. The Saudis, still furious with Obama because of his nuclear weapons deal with Iran (which the Saudis, for good reason, regard as an enormous betrayal) ignored his pleas for more help in fighting ISIS. Obama probably promised to veto a Republican bill that would enable Americans to sue Saudi Arabia for its well-demonstrated sponsorship of al-Qaida and possible complicity in the 9-11 attacks.
Landing in England to help his pal, British PM David Cameron, campaign against leaving the European Union (a public referendum set for June 23) Obama only succeeded in igniting the anti-EU campaign. The Brexiteers loudly condemned him for hypocrisy. At least lunching with the Queen must have been fun.
Friday was Earth Day but Obama – who dozens of time has told us that global warming was the greatest threat facing us (even greater than terrorism) — skipped the U.N. ceremony signing the latest global warming agreement, though Secretary of State John Kerry and former Vice President Al Gore stood in for him. It’s not clear which of the two signed the agreement, but it really doesn’t matter. Fortunately, it’s not binding on any of the nations that signed it.
Grade D-
John Zogby is the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics and author of the upcoming, “We Are Many, We Are One.” Follow him at @TheJohnZogby
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
