?The tensions between Mr. Obama and the Gulf states, both American and Arab diplomats say, derive from an Obama character trait: he has not built many personal relationships with foreign leaders. ?He?s not good with personal relationships; that?s not what interests him,? said one United States diplomat. ?But in the Middle East, those relationships are essential. The lack of them deprives D.C. of the ability to influence leadership decisions.?
Obama?s personal relationship problem?isn?t?limited to the foreign policy arena.? Journalist Bob Woodward, who wrote an extensive expose on Obama?s bungled handling of the 2011 federal debt ceiling showdown, offered a jarringly similar critique: Obama has no personal relationships with Congressional leaders of either party (according to Woodward, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also shut Obama out of the debt-ceiling talks).
This major leadership flaw may help explain many of the problems the nation has suffered in the past four years. After all, it?s not as if Obama is the first President to have to deal with two-party government or Middle East turmoil.
For example, like Obama, President Bill Clinton was forced to govern after the rise of a new Republican House majority promising to institute major policy changes following a crushing Democratic defeat during his first mid-term election. Clinton also had a handicap. He had to deal with the abrupt and often confrontational House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while Obama has the benefit of dealing with the mild-mannered and personable Speaker John Boehner.
The result under Clinton: comprehensive welfare reform and a balanced budget. The result under Obama: gridlock and fiscal armageddon.
Most liberals are quick to fault the GOP for insisting on ?extreme? ideas like the reduction of trillion-dollar annual deficits, but few are willing to entertain the idea that perhaps the President is primarily at fault for the lack of progress on anything important in Washington.
In foreign affairs, as in domestic affairs, Obama appears to be under the mistaken belief that a big speech or two is all it takes to progress his, and the nation?s, interests.? However, just as speech after speech failed to convince Americans to support Obama?s signature legislation, Obamacare, the President?s celebrated 2009 ?New Beginning? speech in Cairo has not prevented the entire Muslim world from burning him in effigy this month.
Obama?s decision to speak at the U.N. General Assembly during a time of international crisis and not meet with a single international leader is a perfect illustration of Obama?s preference for speech-giving versus relationship-building (perhaps the Libyan delegation could have helped clear up some of the major misunderstandings the White House has had over the recent tragedy in that country).
It?s a rare thing for the liberal-leaning New York Times to summarize conservative opinion on an issue so effectively, but stranger things have happened.
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