Last Call

The week ahead includes Obama on the world stage not once, but twice: the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday. The "liberal media" at Reuters seems to think he's already dropped the ball on foreign policy however.

Obama got a rapturous welcome overseas when he succeeded President George W. Bush eight months ago, winning plaudits for his rhetorical gifts, his multicultural background and his promise to break with Bush's unpopular go-it-alone style.

He has made major strides toward keeping his pledge to restore Washington's reputation abroad, but analysts say he needs more concrete results to show for it.

Really? Compared to Bush, Obama's still lacking on foreign policy?

Analysts said Obama's weaker domestic popularity probably would not undercut his leadership at the United Nations and G20. But there will be less of the euphoria that marked the summits of his first months in office, including a whirlwind European tour in April where he got a rock-star reception.

"We are past this euphoric moment where the president is making his introduction onto the world stage," said Heather Conley, a European affairs expert at the CSIS think tank.

"As we transition from this great euphoria, I think we're starting to see a little bit of disquiet set in," Conley said, adding that European leaders were impatient for Obama to "turn details into action" on climate change and financial reform.

Eight months in and Obama has not only failed to solve America's problems, he has failed to save the entire world's problems too. What a lousy guy!

With the G20 set to consider ways to revive the stalled Doha round of world trade talks, Obama's decision to slap new tariffs on Chinese tires is expected to hamper his ability to lead a call against protectionism and has upset Beijing.

James Lindsay, a former Clinton administration adviser, said Obama would receive a warm reception from foreign leaders but "reality is setting in."

"Expectations for what President Obama was going to deliver were far too high," he added. "The reality of the presidency is that the moment he starts to make decisions, he starts alienating people."

"There's always going to be disappointment because countries have read into Obama all of their hopes and dreams," said Lindsay, who is now at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In other words, Obama's failure to fix the planet in eight months is his fault, even though he's made progress. But you see, he's already blown it. Reality is that he's not a superhero. Yeah, I still say he's got a long way to go on the economy, but name another President in living memory who had this much dumped on him in the first eight months, two wars, a functional global economic depression and an opposition party that despises him to the point of derangement.

Boy, that pesky liberal media just sugar-coats everything, don't they? The Already Failed Obama Presidency meme rolls on. What he has done he'll never get credit for, and what he hasn't done he'll get blamed for.