Merkel faces difficult talks in Washington

[DixieBelle]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is traveling to Washington this week to discuss the financial crisis and climate change with US President Barack Obama -- two issues where Germany and the US are deeply divided. In the new world order, Europe is looking increasingly irrelevant for the US. When US President Barack Obama recently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden, he did something completely unexpected in the middle of their conversation: He deviated from the program.  When high-ranking politicians meet, the briefing book is one of the most important elements. It includes the agenda and the things a politician is expected to say. Chancellors and presidents like to stick to briefing book, because it gives them security. In Dresden, Obama remained true to the program at first. But then he unexpectedly asked "Angela" why, exactly, she didn't want Turkey to be accepted into the European Union. Merkel was taken aback. She had to think on her feet and quickly come up with an answer for an issue on which she had no pre-prepared comments. It became clear to her, once again, that this president is a challenge, both for Merkel and for German politics as a whole. She had even read a book by Obama to prepare for this meeting, but it didn't shield her against this president's surprises.

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It is an unsettling situation. The prosperity and well-being of ordinary people are more threatened than they have been in a long time, and yet Germany and its most important partner seem unable to agree on a common course. It isn't even clear that the United States still perceives Germany and Europe as important partners. The emphasis is shifting toward China, and Merkel will find herself having to campaign on behalf of Germany -- something which makes it difficult for her to voice criticism of the US.

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But the White House believes its policy of printing money is necessary, not risky..........Merkel, on the other hand, is struggling to keep Germany's budget deficit at about 4 percent of GDP this year. In the United States, the deficit will likely have reached 13 percent when the current budget year ends this fall.

Archaic fears, combined with the memories of two different years, are at the root of the two countries' fundamentally different positions on the purpose and tools of monetary policy. The Americans remember the 1929 global economic crisis with horror. For them, there is nothing worse than a shrinking economy, which they see as the epitome of hunger, hardship and ruin. The Germans, on the other hand, think of 1923, when hyperinflation destroyed assets and plunged many into poverty.

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A few hours after the encounter between Merkel and Obama, Ben LaBolt, a White House press spokesman, told a colleague about the difficult relationship between the two leaders. "They are not getting any warmer," he said, within earshot of other people standing nearby.

Obama's visits to Dresden and Buchenwald also ruffled some feathers in Germany. The US president's advance team, which had been sent to help prepare for the trip, made a negative impression on the Germans through their coarse language and overbearing behavior. German officials were shouted at, treated like schoolchildren and told to wait their turns.

"We have never experienced such a hardline approach during any visit," says an official from Germany's Foreign Ministry. The Obama team, for its part, is trying to reclaim for itself the mechanisms of the modern media society, arguing that it was important to prevent the Buchenwald visit from being spoiled by images of a smiling and joking president. The spin doctors call it "message control."

As it is, the US president in person is by no means the charming and smiling character many have come to expect from his television appearances. He cultivates a cool style or, as one of the members of the delegation describes it, "an almost unfeeling style."

In pursuing its foreign policy, the new administration in Washington no longer relies solely on high-level meetings and state receptions. In fact, the populations of other countries are now being mobilized to support the goals of the United States to an unprecedented extent. Officials at the White House and the State Department have developed a completely new form of the old concept of "public diplomacy."

In a recent speech, Judith A. McHale, under secretary for public diplomacy in the US State Department, argued that traditional government-to-government relations are no longer sufficient in the 21st century, as a government's room for maneuver greatly depends on the popular mood within the country: "Governments inclined to support US policies will back away if their populations do not trust us."

The new strategy has two components, says McHale. According to one component, the "ground game," it is important to reach the representatives of the respective civil societies and media. That was why Obama spoke privately with Merkel in Dresden for 35 minutes -- before speaking to journalists for 42 minutes. The purpose of the other component, the so-called "air game" -- influencing the masses via television, radio and the Internet -- is to disseminate the message. This explains why Obama is so fond of live public appearances, like the one in Buchenwald.


When interacting with his fellow politicians, Obama shows little patience for the complicated rituals of good behavior. According to Thomas Klau from the think tank the European Council on Foreign Relations, the US president is no longer interested in taking part in the "bilateral political and emotional theater with individual European Union leaders, who, in the world of the early 21st century, are moving down to the middle rank of the global hierarchy."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,632026,00.html


This article is from June 23, 2009 but well worth a read anyway. I posted some key points that I thought were important.

[thundley4]

I only read the excerpts that you posted here, and that was plenty .  0Bama has got to be one of the most arrogant leaders of any nation right now. Little O, seems to rank up there with "Little Kim" in that regards.

Did I interpret that right , that he tries to get the people of other nations to support him against their own leader?  Surely I misunderstood that part.

[docstew]

I only read the excerpts that you posted here, and that was plenty .  0Bama has got to be one of the most arrogant leaders of any nation right now. Little O, seems to rank up there with "Little Kim" in that regards.

Did I interpret that right , that he tries to get the people of other nations to support him against their own leader?  Surely I misunderstood that part.

I read it as meaning he tries to influence the decisions/policies of other gov'ts/leaders by drumming up popular support for certain positions.

[thundley4]

I read it as meaning he tries to influence the decisions/policies of other gov'ts/leaders by drumming up popular support for certain positions.

But would he need the popular support of those people unless his position is at odds with the position of the countries leader?

[DumbAss Tanker]

Other than dealing with our potential to destroy the world economy through Obama's irresponsible fiscal shenanigans, it's difficult to say what the Germans have to gain from this.  He crapped all over the Brits, now the Germans, the two prime movers in the EU.  The question about German opposition to bringing Turkey in was either purposely provocative or reflective of a deep and abiding ignorance of what EU membership means in terms of open borders and other issues (And incidentally, is as likely to provoke the French as much as the Germans).

[Lacarnut]

Looks like the O will suck up to our enemies and bash our friends in typical Democratic fashion. Merkel should tell the O to go fly a kite and to mind his own business. Membership in the EU is not our concern.