Obama's Euro-Crisis Lecture Is 'Pitiful and Sad'

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,788807,00.html

US President Obama has given the Europeans a harsh lecture on the dangers of their ongoing debt crisis. Offended by the unsolicited advice, Europeans have suggested the US get its own house in order first. Obama's remarks were "arrogant" and "absurd," German commentators say on Wednesday.

Europeans are well aware of the seriousness of their ongoing debt crisis. But they don't, it seems, like to receive lectures from other countries -- especially the United States, which is struggling to deal with its own mountain of debt.

On Tuesday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble curtly rejected recent American criticism of Europe's approach to solving its debt crisis. "I don't think Europe's problems are America's only problems," said Schäuble, who has become increasingly sharp-tongued as the euro crisis deepens. "It's always easier to give other people advice."

Schäuble was referring to strongly worded comments made by US President Barack Obama and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in recent days. At an event in California on Monday, Obama warned Europeans that their inaction was "scaring the world." The Europeans, he said, "have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with all the challenges that their banking system faced. It's now being compounded by what's happening in Greece." He continued: "They're going through a financial crisis that is scaring the world, and they're trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven't been quite as quick as they need to be."

[ProSense]

1. "The problem, however, is that the US president is absolutely right."

<...>

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"One needs to remember the context within which Obama's scolding of the Europeans took place. It was an event where the president was raising money for the Democrats and where he wanted to explain to voters why the US economy is much worse off than he and his economic experts had believed until recently. Hence his criticism of the EU was simple electioneering."

"The problem, however, is that the US president is absolutely right. For far too long, the Europeans -- including the Germans -- treated the financial crisis as a purely American problem. They have still found no solution for their own debt crisis. Now Europe's problems are having a negative impact on growth and jobs around the world, including in the US. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Europe is threatening Obama's already precarious chances of reelection in 2012. That is something that surely does not leave Obama cold. In that respect, it doesn't help much to point out that, once the Europeans have got their house in order, the financial markets will return their attention to America's debt crisis and its ailing political system. Financially, Europe is currently the most dangerous place in the world."

<...>

[Name removed]

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[ProSense]

5. Well

"The arrogance of this WH knows no bounds."

...Europeans still like him: Obama still highly popular in Europe: poll

US President Barack Obama's ratings have plunged at home but he remains highly popular in Europe, with 75 percent in 12 EU nations approving his handling of global affairs, a poll said Wednesday.

He is also much better liked than his predecessor George W. Bush, whose rating in Europe was just 20 percent in 2008, said the Transatlantic Trends poll by the German Marshall Fund.

Since 2009, when Obama had a 80-90 percent approval rating in Europe, his popularity has declined 17 points in Spain, 13 points in Slovakia and 12 points in France and Italy.

But he still received an 82 percent approval rating for international affairs in Portugal and 81 percent in Germany and the Netherlands, with an average of 75 percent across the 12 EU states surveyed.

<...>

[pocoloco]

2. Nobel Prize in Economics in our Prez's future, maybe?

He really smoked them on Peace!

[Beacool]

9. Good one!!!

:rofl:

My brother (2 PhDs in Economics and sitting at the EEC in Brussels) adds his own.

:rofl:

[ProSense]

11. Wouldn't

"Nobel Prize in Economics in our Prez's future, maybe?"

...that just blow everyone's mind?

But for the sake of understanding and comparing, facts are facts. As brutal and devastating as the Great Recession has been, a combination of steps from policymakers, including the stimulus, the auto industry rescue, and even TARP — all steps the right finds offensive — stabilized an economy teetering on the brink of collapse. As the second chart helps show, we even started recovering faster than other countries facing similar circumstances.

Posted here.

Treasuries due in 10 or more years have returned 28 percent in 2011, exceeding the 24.4 percent gain in all of 2008 during worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Not since 1995, when the securities soared 30.7 percent, have investors done so well owning longer-dated U.S. government debt.

Posted here.

The RW would go ballistic!

[CakeGrrl]

14. The RW wouldn't be the only ones going ballistic.

I would massively enjoy the "outpouring" over a second Nobel Prize for this President.

:evilgrin:

[Beacool]

17. Yes, if it is as undeserved as the first one.

;-)

[ProSense]

19. .

Barack Obama: Foreign Policy Ninja Master

[CakeGrrl]

20. Disagree. I'm glad it's on his list of accomplishments

where it will continue to stick in the craw of many.

:hi:

[Whisp]

22. I love those craw-stickin' Nobel Prizes, don't you?

:rofl:

[YellowCosmicSun]

27. Love 'em!

They know he deserves it.

That's what gets them the most.

[Beacool]

23. Oh, it's just laughable.

And further cheapens a prize that had already been politicized enough.

:hi:

[YellowCosmicSun]

26. What's laughable is your obvious vendetta against Obama.

Did he really take something from you so dear that you can never forgive him?

The bitterness sits like an albatross across your shoulders.

[YellowCosmicSun]

28. START was passed. That's what the prize was for. Do you have a problem with that?

[tblue]

3. I don't blame them.

Egad! I don't like to be lectured to either. Especially by someone who doesn't take his own advice.

I do not understand our president. He's smarter than that. He sure does love to lecture.

[phleshdef]

6. What a bunch of fucking emos.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Rumsfeld said 'old Europe is quaint'

but this OP sort of misstates the article, which is far more nuanced than the headline suggests.

[frazzled]

7. From same article: "the US president is absolutely right. ...

... For far too long, the Europeans -- including the Germans -- treated the financial crisis as a purely American problem. They have still found no solution for their own debt crisis. Now Europe's problems are having a negative impact on growth and jobs around the world, including in the US."

You take an article from Der Spiegel that is quoting material from different German magazines and newspapers, and pull a quote from Handelsblatt, which also calls him "a brilliant thinker." The editorial voice of Der Spiegel itself frames these quotes by saying "But perhaps the Europeans simply don't like a taste of their own medicine. When a US default was looming back in July when Congress was unable to agree on raising the debt ceiling, European commentators were quick to weigh in and give Obama and the US unsolicited advice. "The global economy needs an American agreement," said a French government minister at the time."

If your intent is to whip up some cries of "yeah, yeah" for the idea that Obama is "pitiful and sad," kudos to you. But it's such a cheap and obvious tactic. Trolling the internet for any negative comments you can find, no matter what the source (in this case, a financial daily, which is quite likely not exactly liberal in its thinking but aimed toward corporate interests, like the WSJ) seems to be a full-time job for some. But many of us are not fooled.

[FrenchieCat]

13. Folks don't read anymore.......

which is what OP is banking on, and which is part of the problem. One of those, who like McConnell, is not only wishing for this President to fail, but working hard to make sure it is so, based mainly on lies, exaggerations, speculation and pure garbage.


I remember the days when the majority of progressives/liberals read and applied nuance prior to responding. Now, it's just a matter of how high can the pile-on get, before someone like you, who reads, comes in and knocks the bullshit down.

Says more about the state of hate, more than anything else, IMO.

[AtomicKitten]

18. Reading the material posted as hit pieces should be mandatory.

However, a provocative title seems to be enough for some as long as it furthers the negative narrative promoted here 24/7.

[Mass]

10. Europeans are used to be lectured by the US. Obama's lectures

are a lot less offensive than Bush's (and I say that as an European).

This said, if you lecture somebody, you should not be surprised that people will be unhappy about your advice. There is nothing surprising.

[Name removed]

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[JCMach1]

15. I have a tiny violin that plays very sad music for the frakking

German bankers...

Give me a break!

[OwnedByFerrets]

16. Never good to throw rocks when YOU live in a glass house.

[Cali_Democrat]

21. You'd think we would have learned our lesson by now

guess not.

[rury]

24. President Obama simply told the truth.

[YellowCosmicSun]

25. Maybe you should move to Germany?

Because Obama will be reelected. Can you stand it?