Obama’s European Scorecard

Obama’s European Scorecard

Opinion piece (The New York Times)
Josef Joffe, Tomas Valasek, Patrick Weil
07 April 2009

Europe’s Kind of Guy

Josef Joffe

Barack H. Obama is not George W. Bush — that is the difference, and the 44th president has been going to town on it ever since he was inaugurated. In fact, he swept the Europeans off their feet even before the election.

Just recall the hundreds of thousands who practically chanted “You are my rock star and redeemer” when the candidate spoke at the Victory Column in Berlin. If George Bush had walked across the water in his days, the Europeans would not have swooned, they would have screamed: “Look, he can’t even swim.”

Obama simply does not demand as much from the Europeans — and that makes the Europeans very happy.

The atmosphere has changed profoundly, and President Obama can do no wrong by the Europeans. So what if he demands a bigger stimulus package from Germany’s Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy of France? Instead of putting him down sharply — “Mr. President, not even Bush and Reagan together ran a deficit of 13.5 percent of G.D.P.!” — they just mumble, “Let’s see whether the current package works; if not, we might add more.”

Mr. Obama is relentlessly polite, and unlike Mr. Bush he never says anything directly. He would have made a wonderful State Department official, striped pants and all.

But there is more to the changing relationship. Mr. Obama simply does not demand as much from the Europeans. Practically a friend of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he won’t drag the Europeans into escalation against Iran. He might give up those antimissiles to be located in Poland, if the Iranians shelve the bomb, and that, too, pleases the Europeans, who do not want to go mano-a-mano with the Russians, who have threatened all kinds of bad things if the missiles were actually deployed. And if the Europeans don’t send more fighting troops into Afghanistan, that’s O.K., too.

Come to think of it, all the world now loves President Obama — give or take a Kim or a Khameini — because he seems vaguely un-American. He does not show American power, let alone use it. And he certainly does not brag about being No. 1 or the “indispensable power” as the Clintonites did.

Never before has such a powerful nation appeared so meek and hence so lovable. George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld liked to roar, Mr. Obama likes to purr. The world’s mightiest country as pussycat? This cannot last, and it won’t.

An Alternative to Sarkozy

Patrick Weil

Barack Obama’s trip in Europe went very well. In France particularly, he is more popular than President Sarkozy. For many here, he is practically considered the leader of the opposition, which has become so feeble in terms of ideas and leadership.

The policies Mr. Obama has implemented since his election are an alternative to Mr. Sarkozy’s policies, which are perceived here as being too favorable to the wealthy. The reaction to President Obama is a resumption of a love relationship, which existed during the Clinton presidency and was interrupted during George W. Bush’s time in the White House. The fact is (some Americans may find this difficult to believe) the French like Americans, and have for a long time. Most just didn’t like Mr. Bush.

Obama is popular because of his charisma, and also because of his policies.

Still, Barack Obama’s popularity goes well beyond that of Bill Clinton’s. Bill Clinton was popular because of his charisma, not for his policies. Mr. Obama is popular because of his charisma, his way of speaking to the citizens of the world — but also because of his policies, because of the way he is grappling with the financial and economic crisis.

The extent of the current crisis (and the reorganization of the world financial system it will imply), its consequences (a huge rise in unemployment) and its context (an environmental revolution) together might well lead to the abolishing of the old divisions between a social democrat Europe and a free-market America.

Solutions to this world crisis will need common innovative policies, solidarity, but above all an intellectual frame (or script), which Barack Obama started to deliver during his trip.

Reasonable Expectations

Tomas Valasek

Judging by some of the reactions in the American and British news media, Europe snubbed Barack Obama at the Group of 20 and Nato summit meetings. The Europeans pledged fewer than 2,000 troops for Afghanistan (the United States is sending more than 20,000). And Europe will spend only about a half (as a percentage of gross domestic product) of what the US devoted to the economic stimulus. This prompted The Financial Times to complain in headline that “Obama Gets Less Than He Deserves.” Robert Kagan, writing in The Washington Post, took the argument further: Europe is too scarred by wars and hyperinflation of the 20th century to be an effective partner.

Are they right? If so, the transatlantic relationship is in trouble: Obama will not take Europe seriously if it isn’t lifting its weight militarily and economically. Luckily, the skeptics are wrong on two counts.

Skeptics said that Obama didn’t get what he deserved from the Europeans, but that’s not true.

First, like-for-like comparisons are misleading in this case. Europe spends less on economic stimulus but it spends more on automatic stabilizers like unemployment benefits. The net result is the same: money in the pockets of people, which props up consumer spending. As for Afghanistan, no one realistically expected Europe to match the 20,000-strong American “surge.” Europe has far fewer soldiers capable of deploying to war zones. The United States is right to point out that this needs to change – but until it does, it would be silly to ask Europe to match US force commitments.

Secondly, the skeptics place unreasonable expectations on the quality of the US-European relationship. Even under Bill Clinton, the Americans and the Europeans argued passionately over the conduct of the Balkan wars. It is natural that we disagree on Afghanistan; that’s what allies do. But our current disputes are a huge improvement over the Bush years, when shockingly many Europeans thought of the United States as the top threat to international security.