President Obama wrapped up his first major overseas trip Tuesday with a strong start on fulfilling his promise to restore America’s standing abroad.
But two outstanding issues — the global economy and the war in Afghanistan — will still likely determine whether the new global spirit Obama came seeking will be a fleeting mood or a new attitude.
“Some of my reporter friends from the States were asking, how come you didn’t solve everything on this trip?” Obama told a gathering of international students here on his last day abroad. “Well, you know, it’s only been a week, these things take time.”
The president’s trip served to clarify that the war in Afghanistan is now Obama’s war. His entreaties to allies to support his stepped-up war plan with combat troops were not successful. The war is deeply unpopular around the world, and many leaders already are confronting the political consequences of economic downturn.
At the same time, there is tremendous pressure on Obama to get the American economy pumping again, as a catalyst for global economic recovery.
“The rock-star popularity of the president and Mrs. Obama with European publics certainly helps in the administration’s dealings with European leaders, even if they are a bit jealous standing in their shadow,” said Stephen Flanagan, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Being close to the American president is no longer a liability for foreign leaders.”
Obama’s surprise stop in Baghdad proved a dramatic endpoint to his trip and served to further highlight his differences with the Bush administration, a key theme to his first major overseas journey.
At the Group of 20 economic summit, European nations split with the president over a coordinated international stimulus, which he wanted and they successfully resisted. For his part, Obama was able to head off a push for a central regulator of the global financial industry.
At the NATO summit in France and European Union conference in the Czech Republic, Obama was unable to persuade other countries to dedicate fighting forces for his stepped-up war plan in Afghanistan, although several showed support by committing noncombat forces, funding and other resources to the effort.
The president met for the first time with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who came away sounding receptive to the notion of resetting the superpower relationship. They agreed to meet again in Moscow this year, and work together on reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod called the trip “enormously productive.” “The president spoke about the need to repair our relationships in the world, to mend our frayed alliances, and begin again a dialogue with our allies and discussions with our adversaries, to try to move America’s agenda forward, to make our country safer, to set the conditions for a better future,” Axelrod said. “We feel that we’ve taken a great step forward on this trip.”
In Turkey, Obama made inroads with leaders of this strategic ally, with promises to open a dialogue with Iran and support Turkey’s inclusion in the European Union, and through a very personal and unprecedented outreach to Muslims.
In Prague, Obama delivered a major speech calling for global nuclear disarmament — hours after North Korea launched a missile in violation of international law. Their defiance gave Obama an opening to demand action from the United Nations Security Council, calling on allies to join him.
Throughout, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama drew enthusiastic crowds, fascinated and fawning international press coverage, and warm welcomes from international counterparts. They met Queen Elizabeth II of England at Buckingham Palace.
But if his economic policies come up short, and the war in Afghanistan grows longer and bloodier, he faces losing a great deal of the popular adulation and warm welcome from fellow world leaders that gave him such a lift on this first foray overseas.
“Moving the ship of state is a slow process,” Obama said. “States are like big tankers, they’re not like speedboats You can’t just whip them around and go in a new direction. Instead, you’ve got to slowly move it and then eventually you end up in a very different place.”
