Obama, 'foreigner' in not-so-foreign land

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama is "the foreigner,'' he had to remind himself in London today, when he started calling on some of the "foreigners'' in the assembled press corps.

"Actually, I'm the foreigner. That's why I smiled,'' the president said, correcting himself and calling on a "correspondent not from America.''

Everything about this setting was new to the new American president in London - not only the fact that the United States, 18 other nations and the European Union could come to agreement on a $1 trillion plan to boost the global economy and monitor its financial markets more closely, but also the fact that he, the guy with "the funny name,'' would be representing his nation at the table.

"This kind of coordination really is historic,'' Obama said at the close of the Group of 20 summit, and the start of the American's trek across Europe this week -- through a summit on the 60th anniversary of NATO in Strasbourg, a summit of the E.U. in Prague and a tour of Turkey.

"If you had imagined 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago,'' he suggested, "that you'd have the leaders of Germany, France, China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa -- a president of the United States named Obama - you know, former adversaries, in some cases, former mortal enemies negotiating this swiftly, on behalf of fixing the global economy, you would have said, "That's crazy.''

But this was 2009, not 1944.

"There's been a lot of comparison here about Bretton Woods... you know, last time you... saw the entire international architecture being remade,'' he said. "Well, if, if it's just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, you know, that's an easier negotiation.

"But that's not the world we live in,'' Obama said. "And it shouldn't be the world that we live in. And so, you know, that's not a loss for America.

"It's -- it's an appreciation that, you know, Europe is now rebuilt and a powerhouse,'' Obama said. "Japan is rebuilt, is a powerhouse. China, India, these are all countries on the move. And that's good. That means there are millions of people -- billions of people who are working their way out of poverty. And over time, that potentially makes this a much more peaceful world.''

Obama was asked, at the news conference closing his appearance at the G-20 summit, how his own foreign policy might have broken from that of his predecessor. Obama was careful not to criticize any of his predecessor's strategies, suggesting instead that he knows what his own approach is:

" I can tell you that what I've tried to do since I started running for president,'' the American leader told a world audience.

His goal, he said, "is to communicate the notion that America is a critical actor and leader on the world stage, and that we shouldn't be embarrassed about that, but that we exercise our leadership best when we are listening, when we recognize that the world is a complicated place and that we are going to have to act in partnership with other countries, when we lead by example, when we show some element of humility and -- and recognize that we may not always have the best answer, but we can always encourage the best answer and support the best answer.''

How much criticism did the American leader confront here for his own nation's role in the economic meltdown that has reached around the world?

"Certainly,'' a Chinese reporter told the president, "there is a lot of sentiment in G-20 countries that the United States was a major cause of the global economic meltdown. To what degree did that topic come up in your discussions? Did it make it difficult for some countries to accept advice from the United States, when they blame the United States and its economic system for causing this in the first place? And how do you respond to people who do blame America?''

"I think my colleagues in the G-20 were extraordinarily gracious about my participation,'' Obama said. "I think that they continue to express the desire to work with America, admiration about many things American.

"There were occasional comments, usually wedged into some other topic, that indicated from their perspective that this started in America or this started on Wall Street or this started with particular banks or companies,'' he said. "Perhaps what helped was my willingness to acknowledge that -- and it's hard to deny -- that some of this contagion did start on Wall Street....''

But "part of the reason people didn't give me too hard a time is because if you look at European banks or Asian banks... they've had their own issues,'' he said. "I think there was a very constructive discussion about the fact that given global financial flows, that unless we've got much more effective coordinated regulatory strategies, supervision, standards, that these problems will appear again.

"You know, money is -- you know, can move around the globe in a second. And it will seek out the highest returns. And if those highest returns end up being built on a house of cards, then we're going to be seeing another threat to the world financial system, wherever that house of cards might be....

"There was an extraordinarily constructive approach among all the leaders,'' Obama said. "I was very impressed with them. I'm very grateful to them. And I'm excited about the ability not just to help heal this economy, but also to make progress on a sustainable model of economic growth.''