Wednesday, October 3, will be the 22nd anniversary German re-unification. It was a great moment in history, and the fact that it was accomplished peacefully made it truly historic. Reading about 1989 and 1990, one realizes the importance of the personal relationships between the leaders involved. George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. Bush and Helmut Kohl. Kohl and Gorbachev. Bush and Francois Mitterand. The ability of these leaders to know each other and trust each other was absolutely to this achievement.
And then I read this from an article by Helene Cooper and Robert F. Worth in The New York Times of September 24, 2012*:
“The tensions between Mr. Obama and the Gulf states, both American and Arab diplomats say, derive from an Obama character trait: he has not built many personal relationships with foreign leaders. ‘He’s not good with personal relationships; that’s not what interests him,’ said one United States diplomat. ‘But in the Middle East, those relationships are essential. The lack of them deprives D.C. of the ability to influence leadership decisions.’
Arab officials echo that sentiment, describing Mr. Obama as a cool, cerebral man who discounts the importance of personal chemistry in politics. ‘You can’t fix these problems by remote control,’ said one Arab diplomat with long experience in Washington. ‘He doesn’t have friends who are world leaders. He doesn’t believe in patting anybody on the back, nicknames.
‘You can’t accomplish what you want to accomplish’ with such an impersonal style, the diplomat said.”
I am certainly glad we had George H.W. Bush as President in 1989/1990. I wonder what we could accomplish in the Middle East if we had a president like him now.
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* Thanks to Tom Maguire at JustOneMinute for the pointer.
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