Is Obama a Great Diplomat or a Big Wuss?

Kathleen Parker
Michael Gerson

"Why didn't the waters part, the sun shine and all the ills of the world disappear because President Obama came to Europe? That'll take at least a few weeks." -David Axelrod

"The Iranian nation welcomes a hand extended to it should it really and truly be based on honesty, justice and respect," - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." --George W. Bush,  at his final G-8 Summit

Creating the setting for the next Death Match Challenge, TPM reports: "Vice President Biden told CNN that Dick Cheney is "dead wrong" in his denouncements of the Obama White House's national security policies: "This administration -- the last administration left us in a weaker posture than we've been any time since World War II: less regarded in the world, stretched more thinly than we ever have been in the past, two wars under way, virtually no respect in entire parts of the world." 

To help regain that respect, Barack Obama went on a tour of Europe and the Middle East for eight days, attending conferences and making speeches to large crowds. The hawks among us think that he did damage; we need to be portrayed as the biggest, most whup-ass country in the world, and you must grovel at our feet. Those of us who are more diplomatic, see him as a success, seeds for the future have been planted and more people are impressed and have a friendlier attitude towards the US. The Republicans among us could only whine in envy like whipped puppies huddling together for warmth and comfort.

Jonathon Weisman tries to sum it up in the Wall Street Journal: "The White House tried to portray the trip as a sharp break from the previous administration. Obama aides describe the last eight years under President George W. Bush as a period of strained international relations and low public opinion toward the U.S. Putting those relations back on a positive trajectory was reason enough for the voyage, said Denis McDonough, a deputy national security adviser.

The London summit of the Group of 20 nations and the NATO summit that followed didn't produce significant breakthroughs because the U.S. had no levers to pull, wrote Stratfor, an international-relations advisory group. After campaigning on his ability to re-engage the world, Mr. Obama was in no position to risk leaving those gatherings in acrimony.

Mr. Obama focused on Russia and Turkey at the meetings, Stratfor said, to try to bring stability to the energy-rich Caucasus, and play for larger stakes in the future. "Obama is playing a deeper game," it concluded." 

But what about North Korea? Shouldn't we have slapped them around a little? We've already caused them embarrassment by not taking their swaggering seriously, pointing out that yes, they did better than their last missile launch, which also fell into the ocean, but they have a long ways to go before they can actually put something into orbit. We need a psychologist instead of an ambassador to try and figure out how to reduce their major paranoia so that they won't be so unpredictable and therefore, extremely dangerous... see my solution in yesterday's post.

We are already getting dividends from the trip, with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extending a symbolic hand. This means that the ruling ayatollahs are cautiously changing their minds towards the US. This also might help Ahmadinejad win re-election, go figure, Obama helping in an Iranian election...

Sami Moubayed, who is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Syria, reports in the Asia times on Obama's visit to Iraq: "Coinciding with the US president's visit were two significant developments on the Iraqi street. One was a reduction in the sentence from three years to one of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who become a folk hero for throwing his shoes at ex-president George W Bush during his last official visit to Baghdad. Zaidi's arrest had infuriated ordinary Iraqis - especially Sunnis - and caused massive street demonstrations, but he is now expected to be released as soon as December.

While all of this was happening, one of Saddam's former top chiefs, Izzat al-Douri, came out with a voice recording calling for a new relationship with Obama's America, but only after the US stopped its combatant operations in August 2010 and withdrew completely from Iraq in 2011. This message is significant, as it has come from Douri, who is the last surviving senior Ba'athist official and has a US$10 million bounty on his head. He has not been seen in public since Saddam's downfall in 2003.

The reduced sentence of Zaidi and the new tone of Douri are causing a stir in Iraqi officialdom and Sunni circles. Their current commander, Douri, is 67 years old and reportedly in bad health. That explains why Iyad Allawi, who served as interim prime minister between 2004-5, has said that he is willing to sit down and talk to Douri. "I support the integration of the Ba'athists into the political process," Allawi has said, signaling for the first time that working with the Ba'ath Party would be a benefit rather than a burden for the Iraqi government.

An integration of the Ba'athists would help bridge the gap between powerful Shi'ites and disgruntled Sunnis, and cost the central government nothing. Maliki's real problem lies in the Sunni Awakening Councils, which were created by the outgoing Bush team in 2007 to serve as an armed wing for the Sunni community in their fight against the al-Qaeda-led insurgency. 

He has since been searching for creative ways to muzzle the councils, and in March began arresting several of their senior commanders. He accused them of establishing contacts with al-Qaeda and said on April 4: "This is a message sent to the people taking the same path as organized criminals." If Maliki is serious about achieving results, he needs to take the initiative and publicly extend his own hand to the Ba'athists." 

Finally, back home, my current hero is Elizabeth Warren, one of the last honest and ethical people in the world. As TPM reports: "... it looks like Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor who chairs the Congressional Oversight panel for the TARP funds, is upping the ante.

After several months of raising the alarm about the Treasury Department's failure to attach strings to the bailout funds, to little apparent effect, Warren will issue a hard-hitting report this week that broadly indicts the Obama administration's approach to the financial crisis, reported the British paper The Observer over the weekend.

The report will call for top execs at several major banks, including Citigroup and AIG, to be fired, and for shareholders in those institutions to be wiped out.

"The very notion that anyone would infuse money into a financially troubled entity without demanding changes in management is preposterous," Warren told the paper in an interview. "When are they going to say, enough?"

As we said, this is hardly the first time that Warren has sharply criticized the government's approach to the bailout, and it's unclear whether this latest round will prove more effective than the previous ones. But until Warren gets put in a position with some actual executive power, it's hard to know what more she can do." Now there's a thought...

Late night jokes:

"This week, President Obama attended what was either the G-20 summit or his high school reunion. I haven't seen old white dudes this excited about meeting a black guy since Michael Jordan's fantasy camp." --Seth Meyers

"Michelle Obama was photographed in London wearing clothes from J-Crew, the store is selling out of the clothes she's been wearing. Now if someone could just get her to drive a Chrysler." --Seth Meyers

"When the president met with Queen Elizabeth, he presented her with an iPod loaded with Broadway show tunes while she gave him a silver framed picture of her and Prince Phillip. There were no winners in that gift exchange, because when I think of things an 83-year-old, super-rich British woman would want, an iPod is pretty far down the list, right between a bus pass and sneakers with the wheels on the bottom." --Seth Meyers

"And when I think of what a 47-year-old, super-cool black dude would want, a picture of an 83-year-old white lady is last. Now I'm not saying it's easy to buy the Queen a gift. She wears the same outfit every day and her only hobby is waving." --Seth Meyers

"But if you're looking for gift ideas for foreign leaders, you should check with the State Department and not Sasha and Malia. And while we're at it, Queen, a picture of yourself is not a good gift. Let's try to remember, you're world leaders, not Secret Santas." --Seth Meyers

"Then it was on to Germany, for Obama. The Germans offered to let him fire the CEO of Volkswagen." --Bill Maher

"Conservatives aren't happy with Obama because he basically fired the CEO of General Motors, and they said he's interfering with private industry's ability to run our country into the ground." --Bill Maher

"President Obama and the First Lady met with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family at Buckingham Palace. Actually, you know why they did that? This is all part of Obama's campaign to reach out to those people without any real jobs." --Jay Leno

"First Lady Michelle Obama is a huge hit in England. There was a bit of controversy when she put her hand on the Queen's back. The Queen took it as a gesture of friendship, but I think Michelle went a little too far when she tried to feed Camilla a carrot." --Jay Leno

"At the G-20 summit, the White House accidentally listed a phone sex line for journalists seeking an on-record briefing call for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To which Bill said, 'Boy, did they get the wrong number.'" --Jay Leno

"Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was indicted on federal corruption charges. Reporters caught up with him while he was at Disney World. He still maintains he did nothing wrong. He made that statement in Fantasy Land." --Jay Leno

"Hillary Clinton set up a conference call with reporters yesterday, but when they dialed the State Dept., they were accidentally connected to a phone sex line. Which is just another way of saying Bill picked up." --Jimmy Fallon

"The Taliban has decided to modernize a little bit. They're going to stop measuring the lengths of mens' beards. I'm proud of those guys. I couldn't be happier. Oh wait, I know how I could be happier: if they stopped trying to murder us." --Jimmy Fallon

"The Taliban will no longer require women to wear those burkas while in public. Spring Break! Let's see those ankles!" --Jimmy Fallon

David Letterman's Top Ten Signs Your Kid is in Al Qaeda

10. His name, Mike Jenkins, now goes by Mike Bin Jenkins.
9. Runs inside for cover whenever a satellite flies overhead.
8. His chemistry tutor? Chemical Ali.
7. If he doesn't like what's for dinner, he throws a shoe at you.
6. On invitation to his birthday party, he wrote "No Kurds."
5. Hides in his room and communicates through randomly-released audiotaped messages.
4. Yearbook declares him "Most likely to defeat the American jackals in the name of Allah."
3. Asks to go to sleepaway camp in Peshawar, Pakistan.
2. Happiest day of his life: when Ayman Al Zawahiri showed up at his Bar Mitzvah.
1. Instead of Hannah Montana, he has a crush on Pooja Fallujah.