Obama's "Special Relationships"
Reading Ricochet's own Bill McGurn's Tuesday column in the Wall Street Journal brought to mind a scene from my very favorite romantic comedy, Love Actually. The scene follows a set of negotiations in which the American president (Billy Bob Thornton) treats the British prime minister (Hugh Grant) with contempt, and to add insult to injury, takes advantage of the prime minister's lovely female assistant behind closed doors. In the scene, a journalist asks the American president how the visit went, and the president responds that the visit was "very satisfactory indeed. We got what we came for, and our special relationship is still very special."
Enter Bill McGurn writing about President Obama's very special relationship with South Korea.
In American political life, there exists no surer sign that a key relationship is in trouble than when the White House declares the "bonds of friendship" stronger than ever...
...In announcing a state visit to Washington in October by President Lee Myung-bak, the White House added that this visit will highlight "the deep economic ties" and celebrate "the deep bonds of friendship" between the U.S. and Korea." Alarm bells should be sounding throughout Seoul.
Certainly Mr. Lee's visit will "highlight" economic ties, though perhaps not in the way the White House supposes. Korea is an important ally and America's eighth-largest trading partner. As the administration's own trade office notes about the pending free-trade agreement, "America's economic output will grow more from the U.S.-South Korea agreement than from the United States' last nine trade agreements combined."
That's another way of saying that the economic stakes are high. The political ones may be even higher. In the Korean press, for example, there is talk about a Lee address to a joint session of Congress. So the question is this: Will Mr. Lee finally return home with a deal, or will the high-profile visit only highlight Mr. Obama's inability to deliver?
As to the answer to Bill's question, there's no doubt that Mr. Lee will be the latest member to join a burgeoning club of Poles, Brits, Israelis, Colombians, and even Americans that finds itself burned by a president who sees no virtue in supporting America's friends, allies, or own people.
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Jun '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
South Korea should probably be negotiating with Richard Trumka directly...cut out the middle-man.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
Yet, let's be sure that we never suggest that this is a plan on the part of Obama. He is merely incompetent.
Jul '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
"..'the deep economic ties'.."
"Mr. Lee, let me clear, I said I need to [finger quote] borrow [finger quote] one trillion dollars."
"..'the deep bonds of friendship'.."
"Let me clear, what's a few trillion between friends?"
Aug '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
EdN-
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 4:40pmHa ha ha ! Now that we've seen the front , can we see the Stern (andy) ?
Aug '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
I do hope Ms. Ellis is being ironic about "Love Actually" being one of her favorite romcoms. That movie bears a scarlet single-star ("Hated It") in my Netflix list of dead soldiers. Its anti-Americanism almost literally took my breath away.
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
Nope. Loved it. Aside from the Bill Clintonesque president and the very attractive, albeit very dumb, Midwestern girls, it wasn't especially concerned with things American.
Jun '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
When reach for comment Mrs. Obama is reported to have said, "Let them eat grass."
Although unconfirmed, it is believed that Mrs. Obama [redacted] may have confused the two Koreas.
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 8:15pmAug '10
Re: Obama's "Special Relationships"
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Nope. Loved it. Aside from the Bill Clintonesque president and the very attractive, albeit very dumb, Midwestern girls, it wasn't especially concerned with things American. · Sep 20 at 5:05pm
From Wikipedia: "After the resignation of PM Tony Blair, pundits and speculators referred to a potential anti-American shift in Gordon Brown's cabinet as a Love Actually moment..."
'Nuff said!