Obama and the rest of the world – where does this fascination come from?

Come to work this morning I listened to NPR and their report about a White House dinner with India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The prime minister was quoted how he praised Obama and his role in the world. He indicated that Obama’s presidency has been welcomed by most nations in this world and people are excited to see him in his position. He even instills hope in others.

Hearing this I could feel the outcry for all these conservative GOP souls. I remember how often Mr. Obama has already been called weak and non patriotic. Some said he is selling us out to the rest of the world. Any of his attempts of successful attempts to improve relations with other countries and using diplomacy to move forward is criticized by the conservatives – without reviewing the facts or the effectiveness of his works. Today, raising opposition is not used as a tool to help shape the world, it has become a principal all conservatives live buy – regardless whether it is good for the people and the country – as long as it helps to foster their own agenda.

To understand some of this, we have to look back at the last administration of President Bush who inherited the Presidency from Bill Clinton. Under Bill Clinton America had risen to a force that everybody respected. His ability to listen and communicate was what lifted the reputation of America to a new high. I never forget when he cut short a trip to Japan so he could return back to the negotiation table between the Israeli and the Palestinians before time ran out. He did not succeed but he gave it his best. He showed the world that his interest in bringing peace to the people. Giving up was never an option.

President Bush destroyed the relations that America built in the first six to eight weeks of his Presidency. He cancelled long standing treaties unilaterally, made it clear to the world that (in everything he did) American interest would come unconditionally first, anything his predecessor did was neither acknowledged nor continued and he surrounded himself with neo-cons that treated everybody outside of America with some rudeness that was not worthy to a nation like ours.

What is the difference? Nations are made of people and they interact with each other like other social and cultural groups or even like individuals. Good relations between big nations can be looked at like friendships. Friends need to trust each other. Friend listens to each other. A friend is especially important in a time of trial. A good friend can be the voice of reason in time of trail. A good friend can criticize one when needed and may help to find the right path again. I am sure there are many other things that are important tin friendships. Nations are most often not ‘friends” but have good relations. These relations work very similar like friendships. If one starts acting unilaterally without even showing concerns for the other partner in this relation – things will not work out. Just brief example; when America got all the opposition from Europe about the Iran war the only answer America could offer were words of insult and threat. There was talk about “the old Europe”, the insults against the nation of France, threats to not support Europe in time of need etc. The main problem really was the insults. If one reverts to insult his good friend or partner – the relationship is in serious trouble.

Nobody ever thought about the fact that Europe might see a war different. Europe had fought two world wars on their own territory besides many small wars in the previous centuries. There are monuments of destruction all over Europe. You don’t have to fly to Arlington to see a cemetery for soldiers fallen in a war. For most Germans, such a soldier’s cemetery is just the distance of a bike ride away. Nearly everybody remember his parent sor grandparents talking about war. Everybody has a relative who died in one of the wars. Everybody has seen the pictures of cities that had little or no houses standing after a bombing raid. Considering this, nobody should be surprised that Europe looks at wars quite differently. A good fried should know this, respect this and consider this in any dealings with each other. But the previous administration only wanted to promote the supremacy of America – friendship was not an option.

President Obama is so different. He has the ability to listen. In my opinion he has shown many times that his interest is to work on bringing peace to all nations. He appears to have deep respect for human rights, but he also recognizes that different cultures may look at his work differently. He respects this without subscribing to other cultures views. He gives many of us the feeling that he works on brining us together. If we acknowledge our differences and respect them, where we can, we can work together. Our differences should not divide us; they should help to bring us closer together. Not one side has a hold on the total truth – there is always something good on both sides.

Obama has been chastised for his willingness to meet with some of the more dangerous or disliked leaders of this world. He was criticized for attempting to meet with them without precondition. What does this mean? Listening to the critics it sounded like they wanted our opponents first to agree with everything and anything we say and demand before we meet with them. How does this work? In which world are these people living?

I can see why nobody wanted President Bush to do this. But, if you are a strong leader, what can send a stronger signal then standing up to you opponent face to face and telling him that you disagree? This does not empower the weaker leader. Meeting Iran’s President Ahmadinejad in public and letting him know that he is on the wrong path would send a stronger signal than avoiding him. It could give hope to the opposition in Iran. What was wrong shaking Hugo Chavez’s hand? It did not empower him! It showed that President Obama is not afraid to confront him.
The crucial point is that all nations and people need to work together. We need to respect each other and lead by example not by force. Obama commands a lot of respect in the world and so does the American nation. Let not jeopardize this. If we respect others they will respect us. The message that all conservatives (neo-cons in particular) send to the rest of the world is that they seem to have the desire of American Supremacy. According to them America cannot be wrong because it mad itself the yard stick that everything else measured against. The Christian right has sent the message to the rest of the world that Christianity is the only acceptable foundation of politics that they would accept. Nothing could be further from the truth. One that studies the major religions will find that all religions have much good in common. The differences are only in their cultural roots and the time they had to develop in modern world.

President Obama seems to act just like he believes in the same facts. His desire is freedom, liberty and justice for all, but he is ready to carry this principal outside our borders to the rest of the world. He stands for the enforcement of human rights for everybody. He knows that his principals don’t come easy they come with a price. He is a great communicator and knows how to listen. He is a president for the people. He wants to be everybody’s president. I am sure he will not shut out people from his speeches when he crosses the country like his predecessor did, simply because they disagree with the.

I wish America gives President Obama the chance he deserves.
President Obama commands respect. That means respect is given to him without anybody asking for it, without any force e to give it to him. The world respects President Obama for his actions and demeanor and or what he represents. I wish this nation would do the same. People can respect each other without the need to agree with each other. In reality I believe that in such disagreement, if dealt with respectfully, lies the great chance to better our world. It always takes a disagreement to come up with something better. When we disagree we look at one subject from different angles and if we find a common ground we all win. Or, more importantly, we all learn something new.

Many of the conservative opponents of President Obama demand respect for themselves and the American nation. Demand means, they have to employ fear or other forces to get this respect only truly great leader can command respect.


Example is leadership.
Albert Schweitzer