Week in review: Obama overseas

"And so it was that Barack Hussein Obama visited Europe. In London, he rescued the world economy. In Strasbourg, he healed the Nato alliance. In Prague, he rid the world of nuclear weapons. In Ankara, he reconciled Islam and the West." Gideon Rachman acknowledged that while the new US president's first tour of Europe was indeed a triumph and scored high in terms of style and ambition, Mr Obama's ability to deliver substance is yet to be demonstrated. Even so, these are the early days of a new presidency and while the substance of America's actions will ultimately be of greatest significance, what the world has been longing for and now gladly welcomes is a fundamental change in tone coming out of Washington. "If it was re-engagement with America's old friends and allies that the new President was after, he was amply rewarded - but only because, in his phrase, he arrived with hand outstretched," said a lead editorial in The Independent. "We cannot know what took place behind closed doors, but we can judge, from the smiles of such stony-faced characters as the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and China's President, Hu Jintao, that a new international atmosphere has been established. "The G20 London summit may have produced more style than substance. But style and, above all, tone are not to be despised in international relations. Getting such things right is something many new national leaders have to learn and some never really master. Mr Obama, and - it must also be said - his wife, are naturals." In The New York Times David Sanger described Mr Obama's approach. "Pragmatic, conciliatory, legalistic and incremental, he pushed what might be called, with a notable exception or two, an anti-Bush doctrine. "There was no talk of pre-emption, or of the American mission to eradicate tyranny. From the Thames to the Bosporus, and at several landmarks in between, Mr Obama barely mentioned his predecessor. But he emphasised one of their main differences: that the United States planned not only to give greater authority to international institutions that President George W Bush often shunned, but also to embrace the creation of some new ones." As Marc Lynch said: "Several Arab columnists noted with amasement that Obama visited a Muslim country before he visited Israel - which they are taking as a potentially politically costly, and therefore more credible, signal of the importance he places on reaching out to the Muslim world. And not just any Muslim country - as a number of Arab commentators note, Turkey is particularly popular right now because of Erdogan's outburst against Shimon Peres in Davos and his outspoken support for Gaza, along with Turkey's good relations with Syria, Hamas, and others across the great Arab political divide." In The Washington Post, Michael Shear and Kevin Sullivan saw in the change of administrations not merely a shift in tone but the ascendancy of a new generation. "From the moment in London last week when he handed Queen Elizabeth II an iPod, to rousing appeals to youth in Strasbourg, France, and Prague, to Tuesday's session in Istanbul, Obama used his trip to signal a generational change in the White House and the power of youth to affect global decision making. "Echoing a theme and strategy from his presidential campaign, Obama urged young people to harness their collective power on issues as varied as climate change, nuclear proliferation and the fight against Islamic extremism. In Strasbourg, he told them that 'this generation cannot stand still'. " 'Each time we find ourselves at a crossroads, paralysed by worn debates and stale thinking, the old ways of doing things, a new generation rises up and shows the way forward,' the president said, adding a favourite campaign mantra: 'This is our generation. This is our time.' " In an address before the Turkish parliament on Monday, Mr Obama said: "I know there have been difficulties these last few years. I know that the trust that binds the United States and Turkey has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. So let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam." He continued by saying: "America's relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot, and will not, just be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground." The Associated Press said Arabs and Muslims have been charmed by President Barack Obama's first venture into the Islamic world. "In Saudi Arabia, a cleric who sits on a government committee for rehabilitating militants away from extremist ideology said Obama's outreach 'will make it more difficult to recruit young Muslim men to carry out terrorist acts. They (militants) no longer have the argument to do so.' " 'Obama has a charisma that is acceptable in the Muslim world and on top of it he is proving that he translates his words into deeds,' said the sheik, Mohammed al-Nujaimi. "In part, Obama's warm welcome reflected the almost rabid bitterness toward Bush, who on his final visit to Baghdad was pelted with shoes by an angry journalist. The journalist then became a hero across the Mideast. "Bush had often emphasised outreach to Muslims and Arabs, and he was, after all, the first US president to openly endorse the idea of a Palestinian state. "But nothing dented the image of an arrogant, bellicose United States created by Guantanamo, images of prison abuse at Abu Ghraib and the bloodshed that reigned in Iraq after the US-led invasion." Looking at the responses among Americans to their new president, The Economist said: "The conservative critique of Mr Obama is that he is Jimmy Carter redux: a woolly idealist who thinks he can sweet-talk bad guys into behaving. While he pursues talks with Iran, Republicans fret, Iran's leaders chuckle behind their beards and carry on enriching uranium. For many conservatives, the defining image of Mr Obama's European tour was not the adoring crowds but the way America's new president bowed before the king of Saudi Arabia... "Such complaints reflect increasing polarisation. A Pew poll this month found that the gap between Mr Obama's early approval ratings among Democrats (88 per cent) and Republicans (27 per cent) was wider than that of any president in the past four decades. But since the number of Republicans is dwindling, that still leaves Mr Obama with a healthy level of support. For example, 81 per cent of Americans agree with his goal of improving relations with the Muslim world, and 65 per cent trust him to pursue that goal in a way that is 'about right', according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this week." In Time magazine, Scott McLeod said: "Obama's message of 'mutual respect' strikes a chord among Arabs. Many still have a hangover about colonialism, and Bush was a disaster in this respect, vowing to wage a 'Crusade' after 9/11, presuming to invade Iraq for the benefit of the locals, providing wholesale support to hard-line Israeli leaders, etc. But Arabs not only like what Obama is saying, they believe he is actually sincere and therefore credible because of his ability to empathise as someone with roots in the African, Muslim and otherwise colonised worlds. "For Obama, however, the hard part is still to come. The parties involved in all the disputes Obama hopes to resolve are stubborn in their views. Iran analyst Farideh Farhi pointed to some of the difficulties in an astute analysis of the reaction to Obama's Nowruz message by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Noting Khamenei's litany of examples of how US policies have harmed Iran, including economic sanctions that Obama has now renewed, Farhi says Khamenei wonders whether Obama's friendly gestures are of any real value. She quotes Khamenei saying, 'They say they have extended their hands towards Iran. If the extended hand has a velvet glove but under it is a cast iron hand, then this does not have a good meaning.' "In other words, sweet talk is not enough. To preserve the vital credibility he is acquiring, he'll have to start producing deliverables. Perhaps with Iran, that might mean an early suspension of economic sanctions. On the Arab-Israeli conflict, that could translate as effective US pressure on the Netanyahu government in Israel to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank."

pwoodward@thenational.ae