G-20 vs. Bretton Woods: This isn't Churchill and Roosevelt with a brandy.

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Obama, 'foreigner' in not-so-foreign land
G-20 vs. Bretton Woods: This isn't Churchill and Roosevelt with a brandy.
Posted April 2, 2009 3:30 PM

by Mark Silva


President Barack Obama is "the foreigner,'' he had to remind himself in London today, when he started calling on some of the "foreigners'' in the assembled press corps.

"Actually, I'm the foreigner. That's why I smiled,'' the president said, correcting himself and calling on a "correspondent not from America.''



Everything about this setting was new to the new American president in London - not only the fact that the United States, 18 other nations and the European Union could come to agreement on a $1 trillion plan to boost the global economy and monitor its financial markets more closely, but also the fact that he, the guy with "the funny name,'' would be representing his nation at the table.

"This kind of coordination really is historic,'' Obama said at the close of the Group of 20 summit, and the start of the American's trek across Europe this week -- through a summit on the 60th anniversary of NATO in Strasbourg, a summit of the E.U. in Prague and a tour of Turkey.

"If you had imagined 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago,'' he suggested, "that you'd have the leaders of Germany, France, China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa -- a president of the United States named Obama - you know, former adversaries, in some cases, former mortal enemies negotiating this swiftly, on behalf of fixing the global economy, you would have said, "That's crazy.''

But this was 2009, not 1944.

"There's been a lot of comparison here about Bretton Woods... you know, last time you... saw the entire international architecture being remade,'' he said. "Well, if, if it's just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, you know, that's an easier negotiation.

"But that's not the world we live in,'' Obama said. "And it shouldn't be the world that we live in. And so, you know, that's not a loss for America.

"It's -- it's an appreciation that, you know, Europe is now rebuilt and a powerhouse,'' Obama said. "Japan is rebuilt, is a powerhouse. China, India, these are all countries on the move. And that's good. That means there are millions of people -- billions of people who are working their way out of poverty. And over time, that potentially makes this a much more peaceful world.''

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