Obama faces first major foreign policy test

Domenico Montanaro Political Researcher

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama embarked on his first trip outside North America on Tuesday, arriving in London for the G-20 summit. After the U.K., he heads to France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and then it’s on to Turkey.

The president will likely receive a rock-star reception abroad, as he did during the campaign, but with recent criticism from some European leaders — resisting the president’s call for more economic stimulus and increased troops in Afghanistan — Obama faces a crucial foreign policy test early in his young presidency.

The president will have a lot on his plate during the trip. It will provide a measure of his influence, particularly in reference to the world economy, Afghanistan, and the Muslim world.

The world economy: Searching for results
Obama has called on the G-20 nations to take bold action to right their economies, namely implementing robust stimulus plans and tightening regulations.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others aren't exactly buying into the big spending.

“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,” said Merkel, head of Europe's largest economy. Her comments Saturday were in response to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposed $2 trillion "Global New Deal."

Merkel told the New York Times: “International policy is, for all the friendship and commonality, always also about representing the interests of one’s own country. ... On an international level, we must all recognize that after the crisis we need to return again to solid financial policies. Otherwise, we run the risk of already preparing the next crisis.”

Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes echoed her statements. “In these conditions, I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans,” he said, per the London Times.

And Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek went so far as to call Obama's stimulus proposals a "road to hell." (It’s worth noting, however, that Topolanek made the comments the day after he was ousted by his parliament after a vote of no confidence. Topolanek remains as prime minister until parliament finds a replacement.) Obama is slated to meet with Topolanek on Saturday.

The comments are a blow to Obama and Brown. The statements strike at Brown, in particular, who faces his own political troubles at home. He came to the U.S. asking for money and hoping to bask in the political popularity of the new American president.

On Saturday and Sunday, the president will be in the Czech Republic for a summit with the European Union. There, he will make a speech on nuclear proliferation. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Russia, a key player in limiting proliferation. Might he face a similar criticism abroad as at home: How many things can he ask the world to do at once?

Previous NBC/WSJ polls (pdf files) July 29, 2009 June 17, 2009 April 28, 2009 March 3, 2009 Jan. 14, 2009 Dec. 10, 2008 Nov. 3, 2008 Oct. 21, 2008 Oct. 6, 2008 Sept. 24, 2008 Sept. 9, 2008 Aug. 20, 2008 July 23, 2008 June 11, 2008 April 30, 2008 March 12, 2008 Jan. 24, 2008 More polls

Not to be overlooked, perhaps the most important meeting will be the one with China’s Hu Jintao. Obama wants to call on China to correct what he perceives to be a trade imbalance. But what leverage does this president really have when the U.S. is increasingly reliant on China buying American debt — something about which Hu has expressed serious concerns?

Afghanistan: Familiar resistance to an American war
Intellectually, some would argue, the rationale for involvement in Afghanistan always made a lot more sense than the Iraq war ever did. Yet days after unveiling his plan for Afghanistan, the president is having a tough time getting leaders abroad to sign on.

Question: Wasn’t Obama, just by being elected, supposed to change America’s relationship with the world? Wasn’t the world supposed to jump on board?

That analysis always seemed too simplistic and superficial, and Obama’s popularity at times appears to be something world leaders have to deal with, rather than something they necessarily embrace.

After all, they have their own self-interests at stake, as Merkel said, and there’s no greater self-interest than their pockets. Other countries’ economies are faltering as badly, if not worse, than the U.S. economy, and in tough financial times, there is little enthusiasm for the ramping up of another difficult war in a country in which the West has had little success.

Australia, Germany and France for example, have shown little interest in upping troop levels.

Sound familiar?

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