Leaving aside his bizarre absolutions of radical Islam in the face of Hindus who have just removed bloodstains: from: the carpet at the Taj Mahal palace and have lost 80 million: to Islamists over history, let’s focus on the stated purpose of President Obama’s $2 billion dollar “vacation:” : to seal deals to grow America’s economy and create jobs at home.:
:
That mission was, in the opinion of conservatives and liberals, at home and around the world — an epic fail.: :
: “Chinese officials were more blunt in rejecting U.S. calls for faster reform, suggesting that the burgeoning U.S. trade deficit with China this year is primarily the result of excessive spending on imports by U.S. consumers and businesses, “If you’re sick yourself, don’t ask others to take medicine,” Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Yu Jianhua said.: “:
“Mrs. Merkel, reflecting a more traditional German view born of her country’s history of hyperinflation before World War II, was equally adamant. “I am not one, and Germany is not one, who says growth and fiscal consolidation are contradictory,” she said during a lunchtime address in Seoul. “They can go together, and it is essential to return to a sustainable growth path.”: : :
She also suggested that it was the job of deficit countries – like the United States and Britain, though she diplomatically avoided citing them – to increase their competitiveness rather than put limits on countries that had figured out how to get the world to buy their goods. “In the task ahead, the benchmark has to be the countries that have been most competitive, not to reduce to the lowest common denominator,” she said. “: :
Mr Obama found himself in the odd position of having to defend the US’s independent central bank.: He was also unable to quell concerns that the US government is deliberately trying to weaken the dollar to boost exports.: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday he would press Mr Obama to explain the Fed’s move.: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak demurred when asked about it.: :
“I think that kind of question should be asked to me when President Obama is not standing right next to me,” Mr Lee answered.”: :
“Obama hits the “trifecta of failure” in Seoul.” : :
Fox News Nation Op-ed: Obama’s “Asian Trip A Complete Failure”: :
“The most conceited White House in memory thinks it is making history in Asia. Instead, President Obama is completing his longest foreign trip with no real accomplishments to show for himself-and a reinforced image as a weak leader in over his head.”: :
“So good is the India-America relationship these days that Barack Obama has been warmly welcomed even when he comes with precious little to say.: :
The opening part of his four-country Asia trip, in India, may turn out to be a great success (at least compared with the Indonesian part of it, which risks being blown off course by a troublesome volcano). But the first two days delivered little for anyone to get excited about.” : :
Once upon a time, a President could take refuge from political setbacks at home by dialing up the White House travel office and heading overseas.: :
But President Barack Obama hasn’t gotten much of a: boost so far from his post-election Asian odyssey, unless you count the polite applause with which enemies of a proposed free trade deal with South Korea greeted Mr. Obama’s failure to clinch the agreement ahead of: the Group of 20: meeting in Seoul.: :
The collapse of the South Korea trade talks — and the frosty reception Mr. Obama’s ideas for narrowing global trade imbalanced received from the leaders of China and Germany – earned Mr. Obama well short of boffo notices Friday in the mainstream media back home.: “Traveling in Asia, Obama’s Glow Dims,” declared the New York Times.: :
The Weekly Standard’s Andrew B. Wilson raised a skeptical eyebrow at President Obama’s rhetorical embrace of: free trade and deregulation during his trip to India.: :
The Group of 20 industrialized nations punted until next year the task of defining what should be done to bolster the sluggish recovery and adjust “imbalances” in trade and currency values.: :
Meanwhile, back in Washington, the trial balloon deficit cutting plan launched by the co-chairs of Mr. Obama’s deficit cutting commission absorbed more buckshot from left and right, and the Democratic co-chairman, Erskine Bowles, took a poke at “people in the White House,” saying he’d spent more time listening to Republican ideas for balancing the federal budget than any of them.: :
Just for yucks, or (shall we say Yook-ok?)let’s let Michelle Obama’s Mirror push the back end of this wagon into the barn.: “Devaluation: It’s not just for dollars.”: