In a July 2007 article in Foreign Affairs, Barack Obama wrote, “To renew American leadership in the world, I intend to rebuild the alliances, partnerships and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security. Needed reform of these alliances and institutions will not come by bullying other countries to ratify changes we hatch in isolation.
It will come when we convince other governments and peoples that they, too, have a stake in effective partnerships.”
President Obama has promised to repair damaged relationships which he claims President Bush created through use of “cowboy diplomacy.”
For better or worse, President Obama has, indeed, been reaching out to those countries with which we have had less than positive relationships.
Of course, I actually believe reaching out to countries such as Iran is a bad idea. However, that is not of concern at the moment.
Instead, I am concerned about how Obama is actually damaging at least one strong relationship which President Bush did strengthen.
It seems that Obama is moving our relationship with Great Britain in exactly the opposite direction.
I guess President Obama intends to strengthen damaged relationships and weaken those which are strong.
Over the summer, I had the privilege of visiting the West Wing and the Oval Office. Practically the first thing I noticed was the bust of Winston Churchill, which was displayed in a very prominent place.
When I inquired about it, we were told that Prime Minister Tony Blair had loaned it to President Bush after Sept. 11 in order to symbolize the solidarity between the U.S. and Great Britain.
Do you know what was done with the Churchill bust in the first weeks of the Obama presidency?
As you might have guessed, Obama quickly sent it back to the British Embassy. There was no ceremony or any other sign of appreciation given. What would Franklin Roosevelt think about Obama’s actions? This hero of President Obama is the very president who had such a strong relationship with Prime Minister Churchill.
Of course this story is only just beginning. As if President Obama hadn’t snubbed the British enough, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was given a horrendous welcome to the U.S. by the Obama administration.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Brown came to Washington for a two day visit. During this visit, he and Obama planned to have a joint press conference as is normal when foreign dignitaries visit.
However, Obama kept scaling down and delaying the press conference. Eventually the joint press conference was canceled all together.
British newspapers have reported the joint press conference was canceled due to snow. I guess there was snow in all 132 rooms of the White House.
It seems odd that weather did not prevent President Obama from keeping other events on his schedule, but it did make him unable to have a press conference with another powerful world leader.
On the same visit, Prime Minister Brown brought with him many expensive and, more importantly, highly symbolic gifts.
Among these gifts given to Obama’s family were clothing for Sasha and Malia, the HMS Resolute’s commissioning paper and a pen holder which was made from the timber of an anti-slavery vessel, the HMS Gannet.
Maybe those gifts don’t sound all that symbolic to you. You should consider that the HMS Resolute has long been a symbol of the strong Anglo-American relationship.
This is due to the fact that the ship was rescued from icebergs by the U.S. and given to Queen Victoria.
Also, the pen holder is a symbol of overcoming slavery and racism, which correlates with President Obama’s electoral success.What did Obama give Prime Minister Brown in return? Surely he gave him something at least as symbolic and meaningful.If you think that was the case, you should probably reconsider.
Instead of a giving a gift which would symbolize our continuing solidarity with the British, President Obama thought it was a great idea to give the prime minister a stack of 25 DVDs.
I like movies as much as anyone else, but what was he thinking? I will say that they were a set of American-produced, collector’s edition DVDs.
Even so, is this really an appropriate gift to give another world leader?
At the very least, the gift seems much less thoughtful than those given by Prime Minister Brown. At worst, they seem downright disrespectful.
Prime Minister Brown’s visit to Washington was a wonderful opportunity for President Obama to form a lasting relationship reminiscent of those between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and George W. Bush and Tony Blair. Instead, President Obama chose to do nothing more than damage a strong relationship.
--As Appeared in The Daily Mississippian on Thursday, March 26, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment