America in the World

Barack Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs questions honesty of British press

Talking about the British media, Mr Gibbs said: "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not entirely sure it'd be the first pack of clips I'd pick up."

Nile Gardiner of the Thatcher Center in Washington DC commented:

"Robert Gibbs' completely unwarranted rant against the British press is an absolute disgrace, and the President should disown his views. An unreserved apology by Gibbs is also in order.

For all its talk of "raising America's standing" in the world after the Bush years, the Obama administration is doing a spectacularly bad job of reaching out to its allies. Unfortunately this is the new face of America's public diplomacy, which will only serve to alienate public opinion across the Atlantic. Congratulations Gibbs - you've just made an enemy out of the entire British media, quite an achievement for the man in charge of selling the President's message."

President Obama has called North Korea's nuclear testing today a 'reckless action'

Obama and Cheney clash over human rights and national security

In the debate about the closure of Guantanamo Bay perhaps the most interesting contribution was made by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. Mr Gates, who was appointed by George W Bush and retained by Barack Obama, said that the Guantanamo detention facility was one of the best prisons in the world but its name was too potent a cause for America's enemies and critics:

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Yesterday, in clashing speeches President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney set out competing visions on national security and human rights. The table below has Obama's words in blue and Cheney's in red (click on the graphic to enlarge):

Taken from the Washington Wire.

Despite the rhetorical differences between Obama and Cheney the Wall Street Journal suggests that recent administration decisions owe much to Bush era doctrines:

"Yet for all of his attacks on the Bush Administration, which he accused of making "decisions based upon fear rather than foresight," Mr. Obama stuck with his predecessor's support for military commissions, adding some procedural bells and whistles as political cover to justify his past opposition. For the record: Both the left and right, from the ACLU to Dick Cheney, now agree that the President has all but embraced the Bush policy."

In contrast David Brooks in the New York Times writes that the Cheney policy ended her Bush:

"The reality is that after Sept. 11, we entered a two- or three-year period of what you might call Bush-Cheney policy. The country was blindsided. Intelligence officials knew next to nothing about the threats arrayed against them. The Bush administration tried just about everything to discover and prevent threats... By 2005, what you might call the Bush-Rice-Hadley era had begun. Gradually, in fits and starts, a series of Bush administration officials — including Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley, Jack Goldsmith and John Bellinger — tried to rein in the excesses of the Bush-Cheney period. They didn’t win every fight, and they were prodded by court decisions and public outrage, but the gradual evolution of policy was clear."

Obama u-turns on prisoner abuse photographs and military trials

As candidate Barack Obama was pledged to release photographs of abuse of prisoners by the military and to end the mililtary commissions that George W Bush established to try the inmates of Guantanamo Bay.

In recent days President Obama has reversed both of those positions.

He has decided that the release of abuse photographs will only risk inflaming opinion towards America and towards US forces in particular.  He has also reluctantly decided that military commissions - with reform - are the only effective way of trying prisoners who were captured in theatres of war.

Rich Lowry of National Review welcomes the White House's double shift:

"To the extent Guantanamo Bay has stoked terrorist recruitment, it probably has more to do with the photos of the facility from its earliest days — with captives bound, in orange jumpsuits — than anything that happened there. The most infamous photo from Abu Ghraib — of a man with a black hood over his head, his arms outstretched — has negatively branded the War on Terror for millions, no matter how sincerely we hope to protect Muslims from the depredations of the vile murderers in their midst. Obama isn’t going to subject us to another self-inflicted disaster in the information war. At least not yet. If he wants to keep the photos permanently under wraps — and show he’s truly willing to buck the loudest faction in his own coalition — he can’t rely on the courts, where he’s now appealing the decision to release them. He’ll have to issue an executive order exempting the photos from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act."

More Americans “Pro-Life” than “Pro-Choice” for first time

Barack Obama may have overturned President Bush's abortion-restricting policies but Americans as a whole are becoming more "pro-life" according to a new Gallup survey.  Asked if they are pro-life or pro-choice 51% say the former, 42% the latter. "This is the first time," reports Gallup, "a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995."

76% of Americans still say that abortion should be legal under certain (53%) or all (23%) circumstances but the trend is another example of American exceptionalism.

The Great Recession has not altered America's scepticism about big government

That's the conclusion of David Brooks as he surveys new polling data on American attitudes to their country.

Key quotes:

"In a recent Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans said that big government is the biggest threat to the country. Only 32 percent said big business. Those answers are near historical norms."

"When Gallup asked specifically about the current crisis, 44 percent of Americans said they disapprove of an expanded role for government during the crisis; 39 percent said they approve of an expanded role but want it reduced when the crisis is over; and only 13 percent want to see a permanently expanded role for government."

"When asked by the National Journal group more specifically where good ideas and financial solutions come from, 40 percent said corporate America and 40 percent said government. When asked what could best enhance income security, half of all Americans said it was a matter of individual responsibility, 19 percent said government regulations like increasing the minimum wage were most effective and 15 percent said government programs."

Davcid Brooks' full piece is here.

Do You Feel Safer?

This video to mark 100 days of Barack Obama's White House tenure, released by the Republican Leader in the House John Boehner, questions the new President's decisions on Guantanamo Bay, aggressive interrogation techniques and outreach to hostile regimes.