President Obama at the
Brandenburg Gate: His disarmament goals
may never come to pass, Germans
may frown upon his backing of
government surveillance, and
they may not even know if he is truly
a friend. Whatever his
shortcomings, though, he's better than Bush.
Obama's 'Castles in the Air' Beat
Reckless Wars (Handelsblatt, Germany)
"So are we now any wiser about
answering the question of whether Barack Obama is a friend of Germany? No. But
should we be less happy with this president as a result? Hardly. Because it is
still better for a president to have disarmament goals that are perhaps
illusory than to have one that wages reckless wars. Step by step - in Iraq and
Afghanistan - Obama is winding these down. That alone is quite
something."
Berlin: In a world still bursting with atomic weapons,
a disarmament proposal is a good thing. The initiative of U.S. President Barack
Obama, which he explained in a speech before the Brandenburg Gate, is therefore
only right. A third fewer atomic weapons ... who would oppose that? Only: once
before, Barack Obama put forward a grand vision for the abolition of all atomic
weapons with the push toward “global zero” - which then foundered miserably.
In the end, the president can at least be happy that
he got Congress to ratify the New
START disarmament treaty with Russia, even if only through horse-trading
with senators. Back then, at the end of 2010, Obama only obtained the votes he
needed by agreeing to extend the tax cuts of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Under
START, it is primarily about limiting the number of rocket launchers, not the already-existing
warheads. It could not be clearer that disarmament is no longer an affair of
the heart for American policy.
Little has changed since. The voting ratios in
Congress are such - with a narrow Democratic majority in the Senate and a Republican
majority in the House of Representatives - that Obama can't accomplish anything
on his own. He needs the backing of conservatives, and therefore, of a party
that would rather rely on obstruction than cooperation when it comes to the president’s
initiatives. So where Obama gets his optimism for a renewed disarmament proposal
is hard to see.
It is to be hoped, therefore, that this is not just a
rhetorical beacon that the 44th U.S. president has lit with a magnificent
backdrop in Berlin.
President
Obama speaks in Prague's Hradcany Square, Czech
Republic.
The president called for more aggressive efforts to
rid world
of nuclear weapons, April 4. 2009. WATCH
The historic site and even higher expectations may
have enticed Obama to build castles in the air with a grand gesture. We must
therefore look, and see precisely what becomes of this foray into disarmament,
as a yardstick for measuring Obama’s work at the end of his term.
In any event, when the president stepped out with the
German chancellor before the press, he must have understood that the surveillance
scandal and the use of drones, at least for the German public, were no trivialities.
Too cool, too unapproachable
Obama explained in detail why he thinks the program is
necessary. However, that at least 50 attacks were thwarted by the mass vacuuming
of the Internet is no more than an assertion. You can choose whether to believe
that - or not.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
In fact, the style of Obama's statements reflect the debate
on the subject in the United States. Because there, people really don't worry
about the legality of the secret reading of e-mails - so long as it serves security.
There is a fairly deep transatlantic trench at this
point, which even Obama is unwilling or unable to fill. But the fact that he
didn't just skilfully brush it aside is testimony to the president's grasp of
the matter.
However, will this change anything in practice? Probably
not. Because the U.S. is closer to its own interests than the concerns of its
allies.
So are we now any wiser about answering the question of
whether Barack Obama is a friend of Germany? No. Obama may be charming, but he's
also too cool, too aloof, and emotionally very predictable.
Are the Germans important to him only because they
play a rather significant role in combating the financial crisis? Perhaps. Obama
always thinks strategically, whether in terms of American domestic or foreign
policy.
But should we be less happy with this president as a
result? Hardly. Because it is still better for a president to have disarmament
goals that are perhaps illusory than to have one that wages reckless wars. Step
by step - in Iraq and Afghanistan - Obama is winding these down. That alone is quite something.
