Another Foreign Policy Success for Obama!

Scratch “success” and make it “failure.”  Remember back when President Bush was criticized for alienating our (European) allies? Well, in quick succession, the governments that opposed President Bush (French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and Italian President Romano Prodi) were replaced by governments friendly to President  Bush’s international goals (French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi).  But the criticism that President Bush alienated our European allies never left (thanks to our completely objective, nonpartisan mainstream media).

Now the tables have turned.  The Washington Post reports that “tensions” exist between President Obama and Chancellor Merkel:

“Since he moved into the White House, Obama has encountered a string of rebukes and lectures from Chancellor Angela Merkel and German lawmakers, who have irritated Washington by refusing to provide more help in fighting the Afghan war or closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, among other disputes.”

And further that:

“The sorest point has been over how to respond to the economic crisis, with Merkel and some of her ministers warning darkly that U.S. fiscal and monetary policies have been reckless and will trigger a global wave of inflation.”

Given that Merkel also refused a previous invitation to the White House, President Obama seems to be beating President Bush’s record of two years to alienate our European allies.  Yet something seems to be lacking here.  Where’s the constant harping by the media on how we’re hurting the relationships with our allies?  Strangely missing…