Posted on 11/18/2009 6:06:33 PM PST by Steelfish
Obama’s Pacific Trip Encounters Rough Waters
HELENE COOPER and MARTIN FACKLER November 18, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — For all of President Obama’s laying claim to the title of “America’s first Pacific president,” Asia was always going to be a tough nut for him to crack.
Without the first lady at his side, he would not have the kind of round-the-clock coverage the first couple got during their inaugural tour of Europe.
Without a popular gesture like elevating the plight of the Palestinian people to equal status of the Israelis, he would not be showered with the kind of praise he got for his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.
And without a stop in Indonesia, his boyhood home, he would not bask in the kind of adulation he received in Accra, Ghana.
Instead, with the novelty of a visit as America’s first black president having given way to the reality of having to plow through intractable issues like monetary policy (China), trade (Singapore, China, South Korea), security (Japan) and the 800-pound gorilla on the continent (China), Mr. Obama’s Asia trip has been, in many ways, a long, uphill slog.
So it is no wonder that on the last day of the toughest part of his trip — the China part — Mr. Obama took a hike: a brisk, bracing 30-minute climb up the Great Wall. Around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama’s mile-long motorcade arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which snakes over jagged, rocky mountains.
Visitors to that touristy section of the wall generally encounter a cacophonous melee of vendors, but on this day, the place was like a ghost town, courtesy of the Chinese authorities who had shut it down. (The same thing happened Tuesday when Mr. Obama sped through an empty-but-for-his-entourage Forbidden City.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
>>For all of President Obama’s laying claim to the title of “America’s first Pacific president,” <<
I thought FDR was america’s “first pacific president”.
I hear the White House medical office has added a chiropractor to travel with Obama. Apparently with all his bowing down to foreign dignitaries has caused some serious back pain.
Considering that the U.S. took virtual control of the Pacific Ocean during the Spanish American War, I’d say that the title should go to McKinley.
That’s funny right there! LOL
I thought it was from holding his ankles.
Teddy Roosevelt. Not only did he send the Great White Fleet around the world, he negotiated the peace treaty between Japan and Russia.
Unlike The One, he earned his Nobel Peace Prize.
When even David Gergen was on CNN this evening saying that the Chinese think BO is a weakling, you know the scales are falling from the eyes of even the dense msm types.
“I thought FDR was america’s “first pacific president”.
Two suggested word changes: “most pathetic president”
I suggested TR, but you could also make a case for Millard Fillmore for sending Commodore Perry to open Japan (even though it happened under Pierce).
Obama is a foreign policy jerk.
Presidents don’t make important visits to places like China until the diplomants have prepared the ground ahead of time, so that they have at least some guaranteed agreement that they can flash before the cameras.
Nixon’s visit to China, whether you think it was a good thing or not, took years of groundwork by Henry Kissinger and others, before the actual trip took place.
Even Clinton’s visit was carefully prepared, if decidedly counterproductive.
Obama’s visit was a useless joke. What was accomplished? Nothing. He didn’t even get any Chinese bribe money, as far as we know.
How many more embarrassments must we endure before this petty man is impeached for misdemeanor?
Imagine the whole of free Europe, pulling for the United States in these troubling hours.
Imagine food drops to our major cities...
What he got was out of town. Even with his ego he recognizes that he is not up to the job. There is no telling what this lunatic will do as the MSM all begin to ridicule him. I don’t think his ego can take it.
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