Obama as able statesman

Monday, April 6, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

One of President Barack Obama’s most important achievements during the economic summit in London last week was his simultaneous show of strength and humility.

It was an impressive performance that thawed tensions that had been growing among European and Asian nations toward the United States.

Many people in those nations, including their leaders, have been feeling that the United States had let its financial institutions run amok without regard to the rest of the world’s economies. No matter the TV images of Obama being warmly greeted by world leaders, this was the feeling toward the United States simmering below the surface.

Because of this, the Group of 20 summit meeting could have ended with few substantive agreements. Yet it resulted in a pledge by all attending leaders to cooperate on many levels in efforts to restore economic health to historically wealthy nations and historically poor nations alike.

Obama was involved in the negotiations, which often called for compromises. He avoided the arrogance that often defined President George W. Bush at international gatherings. He had wanted European governments, for example, to unleash American-style stimulus bills on their economies, but did not force the issue when he sensed their strong objections.

Obama presented himself as a leader unafraid to confront his own country’s shortcomings. The New York Times reported that he “projected contrition” about America’s role in the economic meltdown. This, and his vow to listen, as a matter of policy, to other countries’ perspectives, is what enabled him to be effective.

“If there’s just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, that’s an easier negotiation,” he said. “But that’s not the world we live in, and it shouldn’t be the world that we live in.”

We hope there will be some improvement in the world’s economy as the result of the G-20 summit. And there should be some improvement, maybe a lot of improvement, in the world’s view of the United States as the result of Obama’s performance.