Obama's First Six Months
Verein International Friends Dresden
July 13, 2009
Consul General Katherine Brucker

As prepared for delivery

Dear Mr. Müller,
Dear International Friends,

Thank you very much for the invitation to speak today. We Americans are fortunate to have a dynamic, inspirational President who, in a very short time, has reshaped world opinion about the United States.

I remember someone remarking shortly after the inauguration that if President Obama only achieves half of what he outlined, he would do more than most Presidents or Chancellors ever achieve.

Indeed, he took office at a remarkable time, and was forced to immediately confront problems that didn't even exist when he began his presidential campaign. In addition to large problems with world-wide implications, such as the financial crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan, he had the very real challenge of improving the United States' image and reputation in the world.

Where many countries had come to see the United States as single minded and oblivious to the needs or concerns of others and, as a result, responsible for creating problems for the entire world, President Obama realized he had to demonstrate that the United States would change the way it does business.

This was something Vice President Biden laid out clearly in February at the Munich Security Conference. First of all, Vice President Biden promised a new tone in Washington, that we could consult with our allies and listen to their concerns. While leaving open the possibility the United States would act alone if we felt this was absolutely necessary, Vice President Biden promised this would be only as a last resort, stressing our preference to cooperate with our allies. Recognizing that U.S.-Russia disagreements have far-reaching effects, the Vice President announced we would "set the re-set button" with Russia and try to get our relationship back on a more productive track. Of course there are still areas where we simply do not agree, but the Obama administration has pledged to work with Russia where we can, leaving the harder issues for later. Both Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama have had productive first meetings with their Russian counterparts.

Another very important step President Obama took was to re-engage in important world crises. Early in President Bush's first term the administration decided to step back from the Middle East Peace process. Secretary Powell said at the time "we can't want peace more than they do." While there is a great deal of truth in this -- peace cannot be forced upon unwilling parties -- it is also true that countries engaged in conflict almost always need the guiding hand of a third party to ease them toward peace negotiations. This is a role the United States plays, as do Germany and other European countries, as well as the European Union. President Obama's decision to appoint special envoys for the Middle East, and Pakistan/Afghanistan, illustrates the United States' determination to help these countries resolve their problems -- problems that affect the entire world. In addition, on February 20, Secretary Clinton named a special envoy for North Korea

President Obama came to office keenly aware that certain U.S. policies were disproportionately hurting our image overseas. American Presidents have an array of tools available to implement or change policies. In addition to laws, which must be approved by both houses of congress, the President can issue an executive order. President Obama made quick use of this and within 2 days of taking office, issued Executive Orders to:

• Ensure every appointee in every Executive agency takes oath to uphold moral integrity of his or her position. Deal specifically with lobbying, special interest etc. (Ethic Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, January 21)

• Redefine executive privilege and the procedures necessary to release former president's records. Repeals Executive Order 13233, initiated by Bush to prevent access to presidential records. (Presidential Records, January 21, 2009)

• Ensure the closure of the Guantanamo camp within a year, consistent with national security, and prohibit use of torture during interrogation and detention. (Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities, January 22, 2009)

• Review Detention Policy Options by establishing a special inter-agency task force to "identify lawful options for the disposition of individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations." (Review of Detention Policy Options, January 22, 2009)

• Ensure Lawful Interrogations, by revoking Executive Order 13440 issued by Bush in 2007 to limit compliance with Geneva Convention rules in the treatment of captives held in extrajudicial detention by the Central Intelligence Agency. (Ensuring Lawful Interrogations, January 22, 2009)

On January 23, President Obama lifted restrictions on USG funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad.

Several weeks later, he issued an Executive Order to:

• Remove Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells by lifting restrictions on the National Institutes of Health, prohibiting federal tax dollars from going towards embryonic stem cell and non-embryonic stem cell research, imposed during the preceding eight years. (Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells, March 9, 2009)

The President has also changed some informal policies put in place by the Bush Administration. One of the most important of these is, in my view, the decision to permit photographs of coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. For a variety of reasons, many Americans are oddly disconnected from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. First of all, unlike in Germany, the United States does not have obligatory military service. Our service members are all volunteers, so the community of people directly affected by the war is very small. This serves to distance average Americans, who have no friends or relatives in the military, from the conflict.

Second, the prohibition on photographing returning coffins kept people from being reminded of our military losses. This is in sharp contrast with Germany, where there is heavy press coverage when soldiers are killed, something that reminds everyone of the real risks of war. It is a regrettable fact that we have to accept a certain amount of risk in war, and it is important to be aware of these risks, but without letting them overshadow a larger objective.

President Obama is devoting more troops to Afghanistan and implementing a strategy designed to make ordinary Afghans partners in the effort to oust the Taliban. For Iraq, he has outlined a plan to pull most American troops out by summer 2010.

As I noted in the beginning, President Obama is having to deal with problems that didn't exist when he decided to run for office. Chief among these, of course, is the financial crisis and its ripple effects throughout the world.

Given the size of the American economy, and the integrated world in which we live, addressing the financial crisis -- its causes and well as its effects -- is a key priority for the Obama administration.

To appreciate the complexity of the issues related to the financial crisis it is useful to be aware of some fundamental differences between U.S. and German attitudes toward the economy.

First, where Germany's memories of bad economic times center on hyperinflation, Americans are more fearful of recession.

Americans are very optimistic and are always looking forward. We can brush off even major crises by saying, "okay, that's behind us, now what?" This is why, for example, many Americans are no longer thinking about the financial crisis and are starting to look ahead.

On balance, Americans prefer to avoid market regulation. We are more willing to take risks and to accept the consequences of risk-taking, while of course hoping to reap the rewards. Most Americans invest in the stock market while most Europeans do not.

Americans have a fundamentally different attitude toward debt. For people of my generation, a lot of this has to do with university expenses. A year at an American university costs about $30,000 (20,000 euro). Most students finish university owing lots of money. When I joined the foreign service in 1994, for example, after completing a graduate program, I had over $50,000 in loans. These large amounts can be numbing, so the idea of large credit card bills is not as frightening. ("What's a little more debt?!")

Finally, the United States' economy is consumption-driven. It is perhaps an odd irony that our willingness to take on credit card debt -- which many Europeans see as irresponsible -- allows Americans to purchase European products in the large quantities they do.

When the economy is doing well, these issues aren't as important. But, as we saw last year when the housing crisis started, all of these factors are interrelated and have a strong compounding effect.

Because I am not a brilliant economist, I will not attempt a detailed discussion of the financial crisis, but instead will say the most important thing President Obama can do to help the world economy is to get the American economy going again.

And, part of getting our economy going again is restoring faith in our financial institutions and markets, including by instituting regulations to prevent the type of comprehensive failure we have seen in the past year.

On June 17, for example, President Obama unveiled his plan to restructure how banks and other firms are regulated in the hope of preventing another financial collapse. The far-reaching effort would reorder the roles of some key agencies to try to tighten government supervision of the financial sector. It would also toughen up standards for big financial firms and create a new agency dedicated to consumer protection. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve will experience drastic increases in power and function.

And the President has made some tough decisions, such as the one to let General Motors fail. As big as GM is, not just in the United States, but also world-wide, there is a limit to people's willingness to continue to provide taxpayer support to a firm that clearly needs to restructure. No one discounts the heavy toll such a decision takes on people who depend on General Motors for their income, but there is also the issue of pouring good money after bad. It seems the opinion was that no amount of money (or no amount that someone could define) would be enough to save General Motors in its current form, and so the best option was to build a better GM. And, in just the past few days, the new GM has emerged from bankruptcy, so there is progress on that front.

Very closely related to the auto industry is, of course, the environment. Here too, President Obama has moved boldly toward the position of Germany and other European nations. On January 26, President Obama issued a memorandum requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider an application by California to set more stringent auto emissions and fuel efficiency standards than required by federal law.

This is very important because California is a trend-setter among American states, because of its size and its reputation for being environmentally conscious. Higher standards for auto emissions and fuel efficiency for California will mean higher standards for the entire country, because auto manufacturers will not make one type of car for the California market and another for the rest of the United States, rather they will start manufacturing all cars to meet the California standard. Another memorandum, signed on the same day, ordered the Transportation Department to work out rules for automakers to improve fuel economy. It calls for the department to notify automakers by March 2009 to increase their fuel efficiency for 2011 model year cars and trucks.

Two months later, on March 28, the President announced the U.S. would host a meeting of major economies in April in an effort to lay the diplomatic foundation for an international agreement on climate change and energy later this year. By convening a meeting of the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitters, President Obama hoped to help create political momentum for an agreement to be signed at the United Nations climate-change negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

These are important moves and show a new willingness to do something about climate change. What the United States eventually offers might not be as far-reaching as environmentalists or other nations might want, but like every leader, President Obama has to consider what is achievable. Requesting a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases, for example, could be seen as so unrealistic that it is rejected without further discussion, whereas trying for 25% might get us a 20% reduction.

There are many other things I could list under the President's accomplishments in the first 6 months; indeed, we have been tracking them and the document is 25 pages long! But, I'll limit myself to just one more thing -- something Dresdeners have had a chance to see first-hand, and that is Barack Obama on the road, meeting his counterparts and putting in a lot of effort to build good relationships and mend ones that have been damaged.

Successful international relations are built on successful personal relations. Leaders don't have to be good friends, though it helps if they are, and many develop such relationships over their time in office. But leaders need to know one another and get a sense how best to work together, and to hear about real concerns -- things that are often only mentioned in private conversations.

President Obama needs to get to know his new colleagues and they need to get to know him. He has been travelling the world, as have other members of his foreign policy team, to meet and get to know his colleagues. Certainly, expectations are high. Obama has been heralded as the Hoffnungsträger der Welt. People seem to think he can solve every problem in the world and make everyone happy at the same time. But it is important to convey that solving big problems need not mean creating winners and losers. You can be sure that Arab leaders, for example, want to be reassured that Arab interests will get as much consideration as Israeli interests in discussions about a durable peace in the Middle East.

And there are very real problems the United States needs help with too. I mentioned at the beginning President Obama's quick decision to close Guantanamo within a year. As we all know, the people held there who have been cleared for release need a place to go. Many cannot return to their homelands for fear of imprisonment, torture or worse. Others might not want to be resettled in the United States. Guantanamo cannot close if the people there have no place to go, and President Obama wants to meet his goal of closing the camp by January 2010.

He will be looking for help on this -- and has already found some -- but these are the types of conversations best handled in person and privately. A leader facing elections might not be able to assist another leader on an issue that is unpopular domestically, but can offer help in another area, or help on the tricky issue once the election is over.

I should not close without saying a few words about President Obama's trip to Dresden and Buchenwald. It was as much an honor for the Consulate to have the President visit our area as it was for Saxony and Thuringia. We were all touched by the warm welcome he received, and though his visit was short, he enjoyed it thoroughly. He saw some of Saxony's treasures: the Grünes Gewolbe, the Zwinger and the Frauenkirche, and was very moved by his visit to Buchenwald. I spent two weeks in Dresden to prepare for the visit and was amazed by the enthusiasm for his visit: American flags everywhere, "Welcome Mr. President" on the Strassenbahn cars, and bakeries offering Obama bread or peanut and cranberry muffins! And then there were the large crowds lining the streets on the way to and from the airport, just to get a glimpse of the motorcade.

So, in sum, I would say President Obama has had a very successful first six months. He has taken quick action to change policies by using Executive orders, he has committed the United States to working cooperatively on environmental issues, he is working to get our economy going again, while putting into place regulations and structures that will prevent a repeat of the problems we have seen in the financial and housing markets in the last year, and he has offered a new tone and a new way of conducting diplomacy that emphasizes cooperation and mutual respect, and he is taking this message to the people of the world.

Thank you for your attention.