G-20 London -- President Obama on the World Stage (part 1)

On July 24, 2008, Barack Obama, the candidate, was speaking in Berlin to thousands of enthusiastic Germans. Dubbed a “rock star tour,” his European welcome represented the Continent’s love of and hope for American leadership at its best.

Yet, less than a year later, President Barack Obama, now leader of the free world, on his first official visit to Europe for the G-20 summit, is being told by some European heads of state to accept international financial regulation over aspects of the United States economy.

My how times have changed.

When George Bush took office in 2000, his administration set about deriding the United Nations, rejecting multilateral approaches on security issues, and claiming the United States would lead the battle of good vs. evil, alone if need be.

Bush’s prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been controversial in the international community and bungled conduct angered even those in the U.S. coalition. Then, the economic crisis, beginning in 2008, bled out into world financial systems. The crisis caused the collapse of honored institutions, steep losses on investments and necessitated public commitments of funds amidst great political concern and public anxiety.

In this context, Obama stands for new direction, but also past irresponsibility.

Since taking office little more than seventy days ago, Barack Obama and his administration have wrestled with the economic problems, proposing comprehensive publicly-funded solutions. Substantial stimulus, bailouts for AIG, banks and automakers, and programs for resolving the frozen assets at the heart of the financial crisis have committed vast resources, as never before, to lower the risk of a Great Depression-like extended downturn.

Showing that they have learned the lessons of the Great Depression, where protectionism is blamed for adding to the severity of the crisis, world leaders have tried to work together. To their credit, they have largely avoided protectionist reactions and coordinated national financial responses to stop state competition for capital from undermining stability as the very moment it is desperately needed.

President Obama comes to Europe asking G-20 leaders for greater commitments of stimulus spending to boost economic activity as his administration considers deflation and spiraling decline in employment and business investment and activity to be the greatest risk.

However, the Europeans, having made substantial commitments of public funding (though not on the scale of U.S.), are now looking to greater financial regulation as the needed fix. Having seen the fruits of cooperation in the European Union for many years, France and Germany are proposing a system of global financial regulation with French President Sarkozy, a political conservative, demanding American participation.

And so Barack Obama, who spoke in July 2008, in favor of a multilateral approach to dealing with the problems of the world, “No one nation, no matter how large or how powerful, can defeat such challenges alone,” will find himself saying “no” to proposed global risk management. For the United States, just to enact comprehensive domestic financial regulation, as proposed by Treasury Secretary Geithner, that manages risk and requires oversight, will be a huge accomplishment. The idea of submitting to the authority of an international body is beyond contemplation, even in an America weakened by a period of financial mismanagement.

Despite disagreements, there is much to be gained from international commitments of cooperation and agreement on financial policies. The United States, as other nations, will have to compromise, but also stands to gain by agreeing to coordinated action. Financial reforms that force the shadow- banking world into the light of regulation can best be done in coordination to avoid sheltering capital in less responsible, less regulated jurisdictions. The dialogue begun in London at the G-20 may well set the stage for a new economic policy of the 21st Century.

Click here for a link to Gordon Brown and Barack Obama talking to the press. Part 2 on this topic will summarize the principles agreed to at the G-20.

Read more: economics, G-20, obama, politics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ru_boff/2126740570/sizes/m/

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Charles T.

12:35PM PDT on May 6, 2009

The First Obama Apology Tour, stay tuned for more!

It was a pathetic example of an American who thinks world opinion matters more than that of his own nation. It was embarrassing and though his Second Tour was even worse, I hope that will be the end of such displays.

But like his Second Tour, nothing concrete was gained but the loss of what little respect many of us had for him to begin with. An American president should stand for his nation, not lead the chorus of cowards defaming it.

So where is all the new respect/help the world was to offer the US once Obama prostrated himself? Words as usual...

send a green star

Sir Walk F.

6:08PM PDT on Apr 10, 2009

Jan C, you are VERY uninformed, and obviously hate your country.

Perhaps you should move to a place that better represents your ideology, like Kuwait or Argentina.

Jan C.

8:30AM PDT on Apr 10, 2009

an open letter to all the liberal kool-aid drinkers: while all of you are busy bashing PRESIDENT George W. Bush, and bowing down to the imposter in the white house, this country is going to hell in a hand basket. You worship a man who bows to a saudi king, who bashes the greatest nation in the world (supposedly his nation),while in Europe and has no feelings for the little man/woman, and kills babies. This is the man (I use the term loosely) you idolize. For Shame!

Leslie S.

1:44PM PDT on Apr 7, 2009

Roger K.,

PLEASE don't go assuming you know where I'm getting my information from. It certainly isn't Fox News or any of the other "experts" the media puts in front of us. And this certainly isn't new information at all. I didn't say anything at all about socialism so I'm going to assume the rest of your note was not directed at me.

Read up on what the New World Order is - or is supposed to be (and of course take the bit of propaganda that I'm sure you'll encounter with a grain of salt) and you'll see why the recent events - that we are actually being told about - are unsettling.

1:35PM PDT on Apr 7, 2009

Rosanne C
Leslie S. you sound very paranoid and afraid but I ask you "What are you sooo darn scared of?!?" You really think people are buying one world government and one world bank hook, line and sinker, and that we, the people, would allow this to happen??? If so, you do not know we, the people, at all.

-I'm far from paranoid and scared - but you must admit the majority of citizens are not so well informed and are almost blindly trusting their leader. Since the "one world bank, one world government" thing isn't going to happen all at once, many people aren't paying attention to the smaller things that are happening that make the "new world order" easier to bring into existence. Many Americans ARE in fact buying it all hook, line and sinker. It may not be until they see it all clearly that the masses will make a real noise - let's hope by then it isn't too late.

P.S. There are some people making noise about it, I'm not denying that at all. However far too many Americans are not.

All the best

Nancy D.

11:44AM PDT on Apr 4, 2009

Hi Richard,

I certainly don't think I'm blind to what's going on in our country. I wasn't blind the past eight years either. I don't pretend to be a genius that's for sure, but I do try to keep up with the news and I can say that a whole lot of economists who are much smarter than I am think we are not spending enough money. Only time will tell. Don't forget that Obama already had over a trillion dollars in deficits when he took office for a war that never should have been fought in the first place. We are so much less safe now than we were before as most of the middle east hates us.

The other thing I am sick of is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I have nothing whatsoever against rich people but why do they think they should have all these tax shelters, etc? I was glad to see that one the the things that came out of the summit was the leaders of all the countries are going to try to better manage all the ways the wealthy can hide their assets so they don't have to pay taxes on them while Joe Schmuck middle class is hammered. We should all be willing to pay our fair share of taxes for the betterment of this country.

I don't know what will happen; nobody does. All the government can do is take the best advice available and go for it. I sure hope you aren't getting your info from Tokyo Rose Limbaugh who is always trying to foment insurrection, or Glenn Beck who is totally losing his mind. They are both nuts!

Richard C.

9:55AM PDT on Apr 4, 2009

Nancy, I am sorry the Bush regime sicken you. I feel sorry that you are as blind as you are to what is happening in this country today. Bush had his problems, but lets not toss the baby out with the bath water. Obama has moved quickly down a path that could lead to the complete destruction of our Constitution. Is this what you want? If it is what do you think will be better in your life? It has been said in many ways that you cannot improve the lives of those with less by destroying the lives of those with more. Just look at Cuba for one example of many available.

One must be careful what is asked for because you will get it. What are you asking for? Be specific now, no vague, flowery generalizations.

8:30AM PDT on Apr 4, 2009

Suzanne, I'm sorry you were offended by Obama making references to our former President. Do you think the foreign leaders were unaware of the failings of Bush? Did you not hear almost all of the members of the meeting stating how glad they were to now have a president of the United States that they could have a meaningful dialog with! I really don't think that Obama told the foreign leaders anything they didn't already know!

The Bush Regime sickened me and I find much joy in my new president after eight years of gnashing my teeth!

Suzanne P.

4:57AM PDT on Apr 4, 2009

Let's see - we bailed Europe out in WWI and WWII. We kept them from the proliferation of communism from WWII until the Berline Wall fell in 1989. Yeah - there was and still is American supremacy. It is one thing to go to Europe and be all humble. It is another thing to bash Americans and your own country. You do NOT go to foreign countries and bash the former President, whether you liked him or agreed with him or not. I lived in Europe for 10 years and the arrogance is not on the side of the Americans, I can tell you that. I do not like this side of Obama. It is disgusting and it sickens me!

Lisa C.

1:54PM PDT on Apr 3, 2009

The reason we need regulation is because banking itself is fraudulent. By proposing to add regulation instead of fixing the system and getting rid of the fraud, we're effectively saying that we're ok with some fraud but not too much fraud. I don't know about you, but I'm not ok with ANY fraud, especially when it comes to my hard-earned money.