It's getting better all the time

Everything was going to be so much better. Once the cowboy Booooosh was gone, we were going to be bestest friends with the people of "Old Europe" again, right? No more disagreements, huh? Yeah, maybe not so much...

Washington has long supported EU membership for Turkey, a prickly yet strategic U.S. ally. Mr. Obama said Sunday at an EU-U.S. summit in Prague that pushing forward with membership would "ensure we continue to anchor Turkey firmly in Europe."

But coming just a day after Turkey forced a series of concessions from fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization before accepting their choice of a Dane to head the alliance, Mr. Obama's appeal drew a sharp response from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I have been working hand in hand with President Obama, but when it comes to the European Union it's up to member states of the European Union to decide" on membership, Mr. Sarkozy told French television from Prague. "I have always been opposed to this entry, and I remain opposed."

Turkey has started membership talks with the EU, but the process has been partially frozen because of opposition from members including France, Germany and Cyprus.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, otherwise effusive about Mr. Obama's performance in Prague on Sunday, also said coolly that there were "different opinions" on how to strengthen the relationship between Turkey, a nation of 70 million, and the EU. "We're still talking about that," she said.

I thought Obama needed only to wink and smile at any given world leader and His will would be done. And, yet, here we are, with members of the EU pointing out that he's meddling in their affairs. And they seem none too happy about it.

Why, it's almost as if Barack Obama is just an ordinary politician. Oh, and then there's this:

At a NATO summit that finished on Saturday, European leaders commited some 5,000 new troops to go to Afghanistan, but the pledge fell well short of the contribution the U.S. sought.

Super. Hope. Change. Well, not so much of the latter.

Posted by: Sean M. at 12:52 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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