The Realist

It’s hard to know where to begin when criticizing Obama’s conduct in Copenhagen.  And it’s equally hard to know where to end.

Should we begin with the fact he inflicted a blow to his own country’s prestige before the eyes of the world?  Or the fact he personalized it, making it a defeat for himself?  Or maybe the fact that the blow was entirely unnecessary and avoidable?  Or that it came at a time when he already has two wars to fight and an overloaded domestic agenda?  Or that it was unpresidential, especially because of his failure?  Or that it gave the lie to Obama’s claim he can charm the world into providing tangible benefits to America?  Perhaps the fact somewhere between a third and a half of his remarks to the IOC consisted of his own biography?

Or maybe we could focus on the sheer incompetence.  The administration demonstrably failed to suss out the likely outcome of the vote before it put the president on the line.  It failed to pick its battles.  Even their greatest cheerleader in the media thinks it was a mistake.

On the way back from Copenhagen, Obama met General Stanley McChrystal in Denmark to discuss the war in Afghanistan.  The 25-minute meeting was only the third time Obama has talked to McChrystal since he sacked his predecessor and appointed the new commander.  He spent more time in Copenhagen than he has talking to the commander on whom the future of the western alliance and the world’s most volatile region depends.  Let’s hope he packed considerably more judgement into those brief encounters than he showed in Copenhagen.