Clarence Page: Obama Wows a Worried World

[babylonsister]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/obama_wows_a_worried_world_1.html

Obama Wows a Worried World
By Clarence Page


snip//

In the end, everyone could claim to have saved face. Obama's skills at bringing people together helped put big smiles on the faces of world leaders at the summit's end. Of course, I said the same when he was buttering up congressional Republicans before they turned against his economic stimulus package. Here's hoping he has better luck on with his new overseas friends. The fate of the world depends on it.

And Obama can claim that he has led a global battle against recession.

The same reassuring steadiness that former Secretary of State Colin Powell praised during Obama's presidential campaign showed itself in London last week when it was badly needed to smooth ruffled feathers, reassure world markets and get money flowing again.

On the personal diplomacy front, Obama's camera-friendly wife probably received more attention than he. It is much, much more fun to watch the first lady navigate the etiquette protocols of Old Europe than listen to a bunch of leaders in business suits gab about productivity and debt ratios.

But on the issues that matter to people's lives, this was the president's trip. The G-20 is made up of leaders of 20 major economies that make up about 90 percent of the world's global gross national product. A big part of Obama's G-20 trip, followed by NATO, the European Union and Turkey, is to establish his credentials.

"We exercise our leadership best when we are listening, when we recognize the world is a complicated place," Obama said in London, "when we show some element of humility and when we recognize we may not always have the best answer but we can always encourage the best answer."

Translation: Meet the new sheriff. We will lead, but we will also listen. Compared to the previous administration's my-way-or-the-highway attitude ("Either you're with us," President George W. Bush declared, "or you're with the terrorists."), this is a change the world seems ready to believe in.

[firedupdem]

1. K&R

Thank God this man is president and the old one is gone.

[Merlot]

2. Looking at the pictures of him in Prague, I can only say that Obama is

changing the world. Those that hate him will be left behind in a rapidly shrinking minority.

There are a few things about his policies I don't agree with. On the whole I look at him on the world stage and am finally able to exhale.

And that's good.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Nice.

Obama is about to put Iran and N. Korea in a box, and the MSM doesn't even realize it! Very interesting!

[MoJoWorkin]

4. Did you see CBS news tonite? They showed just a few seconds of President Obama's

speech in Prague, and then went to a reporter in Iran who said no one saw the speech in Iran unless they had satellite. She was referring to the censorship of Iranian news.

I guess she doesn't know that very few got to see it here in the good old USA either. Who knows, maybe more saw it in Iran than the USA.

FrenchieCat knows what I am talking about! LOL

[JayMusgrove]

5. This is disturbing to me, as well. Why do we allow our many

international news networks to get away with posting talking heads all day, every day, with commercial interruptions every 8 minutes, and never deliver real live coverage of real news as it happens, unless, of course, it is the bombing of Baghdad, THAT went on for hours without commercial interruption.

I have a suggestion, can we launch a major protest to all the major news networks that they cover EVERY event of our President without interruption when he is giving a public speech in another nation? Or maybe give a full version tape delayed within 24 hours, or maybe just stop showing pictures of macabre scenes from Afghanistan and Iraq, in favor of one or two still shots?

Why are the major news networks conspiring to keep us in the dark about our President, while scaring and boring us to death with meaningless talking head drivel?

[babylonsister]

6. I saw it on CSPAN at 5pm ET. It was aired earlier, too. But

you're right, no other cable network that I'm aware of showed a repeat.

[WhiteTara]

12. I saw it this morning.

What a difference to see our President seeking peace rather than seeking to destroy peace. I was so relaxed that I took a nap this afternoon.

The speech was incredible and the people in the square were just so thrilled. The only banner I saw was an apology about Silvia from people I assumed are Italians.:rofl:

I loved the rope line. There were so many cameras snapping overhead to say they got a picture of Barack.

I am very grateful for CSPAN and I also agree that his message should be given on more accessible stations in full without all that bs the talking heads spew.

[stillcool]

7. It's sad, and scary...

how can people be so confident in their opinions when they know so little? There are no complex issues. One sentence uttered by a 'source' is apparently enough to be an expert. The less information, the more emphatic the opinion.

[saltpoint]

8. The ripple effect on this visit is going to be all dividend.

Very nice piece by Page. Thank you for putting it up for us.


:thumbsup: :hi:

[babylonsister]

11. Hey there, saltpoint!

This trip was impressive in so many ways, and I do enjoy Mr. Page. :fistbump:

[opihimoimoi]

9. More Plasusible and Realistic...as well as Positive....whad a man we got....

[wroberts189]

10. Praise the Gods for Obama.. restoring U.S. dignity in the world KNR nt

[Cha]

13. Thankfully these particular World Leaders

are not as self absorbingly brain dead as the US repukethons.