Isn’t working out too well – from an NRO reader:
There’s actually something worrisome about this whole Chicago fiasco, and it goes back to President Obama’s inexperience. Diplomacy 101 tells us that your head of state only shows up on the high-profile stage when a deal is complete. The lesson that most politicians learn well before they gain positions of power is that diplomacy is done by diplomats, professionals who work through all the negotiations and the hardball tactics and the carrot/stick combinations. The principals in the matter gather to discuss high-level topics and to smile for the cameras as the agreement is being signed. Heads of state do not conduct diplomacy, they ratify it, and surprises are entirely unwelcome at those summits and signing events…
I could not have said be better, myself – the failure in Copenhagen is bad enough, but the worst aspect of it is the clear fact that Obama hadn’t done any advance work on it. He was counting on his prestige as The One to carry it off. Is Obama also counting on this to untie the knots vis a vis Iran? If he is, we’re in for a bad time.
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