100 Days Of Diplomacy: A False Yardstick

Charles Wolfson: Not Much Can Be Gleaned From U.S. Foreign Policy After So Short A Period Of Time

(CBS)  Background and analysis by CBS News State Department reporter Charles Wolfson.

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How many political prognosticators are out there having predicted a swine flu pandemic as the dominant topic on President Barack Obama’s 100th day in office? Exactly.

What journalists need at this point in the Obama administration is a reality check - on ourselves. So the president and his team have reached the 100-day mark. Who cares? Apparently the media does because we seem incapable of resisting artificial and often self-imposed yardsticks for measuring one thing or another.

What can really be said about the foreign policy of Mr. Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, after so short a period of time? Here’s what: They’ve both made trips abroad and met with foreign leaders and generally gotten quite favorable reviews for bringing a more open and inclusive attitude than existed during the Bush administration. That was not a very high bar to top.

The President has been to Europe, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean while his top diplomat has visited several European and Asian capitals plus stops in the Mideast. Anyone looking for big policy changes could at best point only to first steps.

It is clear that Mr. Obama has a different style towards foreign policy than his predecessor and he has acted in ways he said he would when he was a candidate. No one should really have been surprised when he shook the hand of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez at a conference in Trinidad. Still he took some political flak for the move from Republicans back home. His first meeting with Russia’s Dmitri Medvedev went well but was not followed by any Bush-like pronouncement (after meeting with Vladimir Putin for the first time) that “he had looked the man in the eye…and was able to get a sense of his soul.” No surprise there either.

Small overtures have been made toward Iran and Cuba although neither has responded quite as warmly as Washington would have liked, at least not yet. Relations with Russia have been famously - or infamously - "reset." U.S. diplomats now will be an active part of nuclear negotiations with Tehran's envoys and Cuban-Americans have had Bush era restrictions on travel and remittances eased. Arms talks have already begun with the Russians but all of these moves fall into the preliminary category.

To date, only the North Koreans, by conducting a missile test in defiance of the international community, have taken an overt step to spoil the Obama administration’s coming out party. However, one need not worry; others will come along to do the same. No one in Washington has any illusions that the early favorable reviews will come in for some serious policy disagreements.

You want change? Here’s some change: the Obama administration believes in high-level, high-powered envoys to do the nitty-gritty work of diplomacy. Very early on appointments were made to deal with Afghanistan and Pakistan (“AfPak” in the new diplomatic lingo), the Mideast peace process, Iran and North Korea. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (AfPak), Sen. George Mitchell (Mideast peace process), Ambassador Dennis Ross (Iran) and Ambassador Stephen Bosworth (North Korea) have each hit the road for consultations with foreign leaders; some have already made multiple trips.

Another strong focus of the administration is a front-and-center role for climate change and that is a significant change from the Bush years. To emphasize its role, Clinton added another special envoy, Todd Stern, to those already named for geographic or geopolitical issues.

While having these envoys manage day-to-day events on the hottest topics frees up Secretary Clinton to travel and meet with her fellow foreign ministers, it also allows her to hold town hall meetings with students or civic and women's leaders when she is abroad, something which suits her politically oriented style. Critics of the special envoy school of diplomacy say it leaves the secretary of state too far removed from the give and take which leads to results; defenders argue it allows her more time to oversee policy without getting bogged down in day-to-day detailed negotiations.

Perhaps in another 100 days, after a parade of foreign leaders has passed through the Oval Office, we will begin to see how the special envoys are doing. For those who forecast that Hillary Clinton would have trouble playing second fiddle to her former political foe, senior officials who have watched the two say she knows who the boss is and has had no problem accommodating herself to her new role.

Two things are clear at this early stage. While we do not yet know exactly how or when Clinton will put her personal stamp on foreign policy, it is already apparent Mr. Obama and his White House team at the National Security Council are heavily invested in the policy deliberations and, after all, it is, ultimately, Mr. Obama’s foreign policy we are talking about.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour
les 100 premiers jours de monsieur obama, n'ont pas été de tout repos, un course contre la montre, mais le plus dur reste encore a faire, quant a la crise économique mlndiale, le big deal au moyen orient ..notamment en palestine ..ou la situation est tout simplement, desastreuse, en irak aussi, la situation est terrible.. les defis sont grands..monsieur obama aussi.., je suis confiante.. je lui souhaite du courage, une trés bonne santé pour en venir a bout..au revoir......

[scottyusa]

Huh?

[iDragon13]

You know what I've found to be shocking in the past few months? I have actually been hearing some Republicans complain about money going to the rich. Bizarre! They don't have a problem with the rich keeping the Bush tax cuts but they have a problem with the bailout money going to the banks. That seems odd to me.....let's see, give them their tax money but don't give them my tax money. Guess what...it's pooled...it's all your tax money. I know that's too involved of a thought process for most of them to understand. I'm sure I'll get responses from those ignorant few who have difficulty with complex logic.

[rtabat]

I watched the Early Show and the 2 gentlemen discuss Obama's first 100 days. It amazes me how the media can pick individuals, who are obviously biased, to comment on this subject and add credibility to a rather disappointing performance! Obama's performance needs to be judged on what he has done for Americans, not foreign policy nor foreign leaders nor his own ego. As far as I can see, his performance is dismal. We have higher unemployment than in 30 years, people are losing their homes and can't put food on the table. Our largest manufacturers-auto, are about to fold as are many other companies in the manufacturing sector. We have spent billions bailing out the wealthy financial sector and have nothing to show for it. We continue to send money oversees to countries that have no regard for the US. We continue to let foreign countries access our trade channels in America without paying tariffs or taxes. America needs a president that will concentrate on the people that he is supposed to lead! I haven't even touched on health care costs and the housing market slump. For anyone to say that Obama is doing a good job in his first 100 days because he met with foreign leaders is insane. And for CBS News to add credibility to that by having these people on the Early Show is a disgrace. Why not have some average Americans on the show that can tell it like it is? Get some people in from Detroit or Iowa or California or Mississippi to share their opinion of the first 100 days. How about some of the people who lost their homes or are out of work. I can tell you that this individual rarely sends comments, but I was shocked by the one-sided reporting this morning. I will probably watch The Early Show again, but if I see this bias in other things, than that will be it and on to another network.

[sjc_1]

They have a lot of fence mending to do after 8 years of up yours attitude. Give them a chance to show other nations that they are genuine in what they say. Years of never believing anything that was said was true has a cumulative effect. We have a credibility and attitude deficit to over come and it will take a while.

[talk_down_2_you]

Just think, 1/15th of Obama's first term is already over.

[noloyalisti]

Obama got more good work done for the people of the US than the Republican got done in 30 years since Reagan. Last one out of the failed and obsolete Government of Pigs "party" turn out the light.

[tangouniforn]

the former President was greeted with riots.
Posted by ramos1129

And shoes!

[ramos1129]

There is one big important change in our relations with other countries that has received little attention. Now when the President of the USA travels to another country, they throw flowers and kisses at him whereas the former President was greeted with riots.

[weedapeapl]

I notice that the Democrats are afraid to even MENTION Madoff anymore.

Madoff is the Democrats' Achilles Heel. They know they have no defense for it.

Madoff is a Democrat. Madoff exposed the utter corruption of the Clinton administration.

They had the biggest financial fraud turned in to them in 2000, when it had been going on throughout Clinton's 8 years in office, and they totally ignored him.

Clinton just let Madoff get away with it.

There is no defense for it. Clinton is totally and utterly guilty.

The Democrats know it, and they won't even try to defend Clinton for it.

[wogerwabbit]

Posted by weedapeapl

sober up

[weedapeapl]

Obama is a total failure.

He is the worst president in 100 years.

Just ask the people who were in Manhattan and eastern New Jersey yesterday.

[weedapeapl]

Posted by noloyalisti at 3:54 PM : Apr 28, 2009
Posted by Stop_the_crying at 3:37 PM : Apr 28, 2009

I think I finally figured this out.

It's that as we get closer to our impending doom at the hands of our Democrat controlled government, the Democrat shills go deeper into denial mode.

They think the louder they shout their taunting of Bush, the more we won't notice the utter failure of Obama.

Guess what. They're wasting their time.

It isn't working.

[noloyalisti]

This is 100 days more than we had in 8 years from the arrogant, clueless, war monger Bushoccio.

[Stop_the_crying]

We should all thank our lucky stars that we have a real president now. The faces in those red states are getting redder. Or is the green with envy.

[scottyusa]

Envy? Envy what? No one is sitting at the campfire with the U.S. singing kumbaya. Just the opposite. They all see us as weak now and they are right. North Korea is going to shoot missiles towards Hawaii on the 4th of July does the irony escape you? Iran and Venezuala are stirring the pot. They have all pushed Obama and he has done nothing. Good speeches are useless and so is the far left that got us here today thank you very much.

[weedapeapl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8kLaEuAoxg
Posted by winstrv at 2:53 PM : Apr 28, 2009

What? I just see dogs playing with sticks.

[winstrv]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8kLaEuAoxg

[weedapeapl]

And this item comes on the heels of Andrew Cohen's article stating the obvious fact that Obama really hasn't changed much.

Once again, he deploys the defense that 100 days is 'too soon" to judge.

But that didn't stop anybody from judging George W. Bush when the economy went down the drain in his first 100 days.

They STILL blame Bush.

Democrats are allergic to facts.

Even after 100 days.

[weedapeapl]

HA!

When you don't like the result you're getting, just say it isn't valid.

Face it, Obama has proven over and over what a blundering incompetent he is.

Obama is the worst president in 100 years.

[noloyalisti]

Last one out of the Republi CON party, shut off the light.