Will President Obama learn? Those who are optimists are waiting. The pessimists say it is already too late.
Three issues show how the current President must change to indicate on-the-job learning. First, there is his relationship with the bankers. President Obama thought he could do business with the bankers. This has not happened. Instead of cooperating with the President, the bankers quickly paid back the loans and gave themselves bonuses without increasing their lending capacity to help the overall economy.
Not only did they refuse to cooperate with the President, they even snubbed him when he called for reasonable dialogue. The dream of cooperation with Wall Street should have ended.
Second, the President wanted to work with the Republicans in a bipartisan manner on issues such as health care reform. Once again he has been rejected. Mr. Obama went to Baltimore to meet with the Grand Old Party. He organized a public debate with Congressional leaders from both sides. The health care reform process has gone on for over a year.
He has made numerous concessions to the Republicans. In return, he has gotten nothing. The Republicans are betting that the general public is against health care reform and that they can win the November 2010 Congressional elections running against the President on this issue.
The election of Scott Brown as Senator in Massachusetts set the stage for unanimous Republican opposition. The dream of Republican cooperation should have ended.
Finally, in foreign affairs, the President has tried in so many ways to negotiate with Iran over the nuclear issue. Whether through the International Atomic Energy Agency or proposals to have France and Russia enrich nuclear material for Iran for peaceful use, all attempts at diplomatic solutions have failed.
While I am not calling for bombing Iran, the question remains whether or not the President has learned the limitations of traditional negotiation. The dream of diplomatic dialogue with Iran should have ended.
Israel has an ironclad relationship with the United States. And yet, during the recent visit of Vice-President Biden, Israel announced expanded settlements into East Jerusalem. Not only was this a violation of previous agreements, it was an obvious provocation and embarrassment to Washington’s diplomacy in the region.
The dream of a negotiated settlement in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians based on changes in Israel’s intransigency should have ended.
Candidate Obama was elected on a platform of engagement. After one year, he can honestly say that he has tried. President Obama must now show that his learning curve will produce different strategies and different results.
