Things really are changing:
Barack Obama is not used to being the guy not invited to a party. At the Copenhagen global warming conference, however, he found that not everyone wanted to hang with him. Our president can’t take a hint.
After Mr. Obama’s bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese began sending lower-level functionaries to the multilateral meetings. A frustrated Mr. Obama pressed for another bilateral meeting, which was scheduled for Friday at 6:15 p.m. Other leaders of the countries known as the “BASIC” bloc were harder to pin down.
The Obama team tried to schedule a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was told he was at the airport readying to leave. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also was unavailable. South African President Jacob Zuma said there was no point meeting without India and Brazil. Then the Chinese pushed the bilateral meeting back to 7 p.m.
“We were told they were at the airport,” a senior administration official said. “We were told delegations were split up. We were told they weren’t going to meet.” So imagine Mr. Obama’s surprise when he arrived for the bilateral powwow and found all four leaders in the room already in deep discussion. “Are you ready for me?” he said with an “uncharacteristic edge” to his voice, according to a CBS News report.
Because they neither respect nor fear him. This, liberals, is an excellent demonstration of reality. You thought that because opinion polls showed Bush unpopular that the world didn’t respect the US. You thought that because of the absurd stories of abuse at Gitmo that the world didn’t respect the US. You thought that because we were fighting in Iraq that the world didn’t respect the US. You thought wrong. The reality was that behind all the rhetoric, the US was deeply respected by friends and greatly feared by foes while Bush was President. Everyone knew that not only would America fight in its interests, but would also support its allies and would never quit.
All of that – every last bit of it – has evaporated under Obama in less than a year. Even Clinton’s cut-and-run in Somalia in 1993 wasn’t as disastrous as Obama’s policies have been. Quit simply, the world is ever more convinced that Obama is in over his head and that American policy is in the hands of ignorant fools.
President Obama, please call President Bush and have a sit down with him about the ins and outs of foreign policy.
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