If he can do the right thing by the people of Columbia:
President Obama gets an opportunity to show genuine foreign-policy leadership Monday when he meets with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Between them will sit the unratified Colombia-U.S. free trade agreement. The U.S. failure to get this deal done is a long-running travesty, but that now offers Mr. Obama a chance to show how adept he is at international politics.
The free-trade issue has become complicated by another urgent matter: Will Colombia grant a U.S. request to use the Palanquero military installation north of Bogotá as a U.S. air base, or “cooperative security location”? Mr. Uribe is still asking for ratification of the trade deal (FTA) negotiated in good faith and signed more than 30 months ago. Beyond this display of patience, America’s most important South American partner has gone to great lenths to satisfy Democrats who’ve made charges of violence against labor leaders in the country. The undisputable fact is that under Mr. Uribe’s leadership Colombians are safer than they have been in years.
Democrats nonetheless continue to prevent a vote on the FTA. Big Labor has simply drawn a line in the sand against any new trade agreements, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is complying. Colombia gets whacked.
Now that Obama has gone on a couple “I’m sorry my country is creepy” world tours, it is time to actually get into some foreign policy. Given the state of play in South America, securing Columbia as an energetic security, economic and political ally is crucial – Brazil is ruled by a leftist, Venezuela is ruled by a socialist-fascist tyrant…only Columbia remains as a major South American player open to American friendship. We dare not screw this up – we have to do the right thing, and that means telling the unions to jump in a lake and ratify the FTA.
Will Obama pass the test, or will he scuttle America’s South American policy in order to curry continued favor from corrupt American union bosses?
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