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POLITICS: Obama's Deal-Making Skills Tested at U.N., G20

Eli Clifton

PITTSBURGH, Sep 24 2009 (IPS) - U.S. President Barack Obama will make his way Thursday from the U.N. General Assembly in New York to "Steel City" – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – to host the G20 Summit in what has been billed as a week that will put his ability to lead in the international arena to its fullest test.

Obama has come out of what could only be considered a battering summer in which he suffered heavy domestic criticism from opponents on the right, who took issue with his proposal for reforming healthcare, and increasing voices of dissent from within his own party who oppose the seemingly open-ended commitment he has made to a U.S. presence in Afghanistan in anticipation of his expected announcement to increase troop levels.

While the White House has gone on the offensive with a highly publicised Sep. 9 speech on healthcare reform, it seems that Obama's popularity and support may be higher in the arena of multilateral diplomacy than in the sharply partisan political climate at home.

The president focused on four key issues in his Wednesday speech at the U.N. – nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, the pursuit of peace, combating climate change, and increasing economic development – but his comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caught the interest of foreign policy analysts in the U.S.

"The time has come to relaunch negotiations – without preconditions – that address the permanent-status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians; borders, refugees and Jerusalem," Obama said.

"The goal is clear: two states living side by side in peace and security – a Jewish state of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realises the potential of the Palestinian people."

He went on to offer criticisms of both U.S. unconditional support of Israel at the cost of "the legitimate claims and rights of Palestinians" and other nations who make "vitriolic attacks" against Israel but fail to offer constructive input to the peace process.

The speech emphasised the U.S. commitment to multilateral tools of diplomacy, such as the U.N. and the G20 – a noted split from his predecessor's style of "go it alone" foreign policy.

While Obama's commitments to international institutions were appreciated in New York on Wednesday and at April's G20 Summit in London – where he mediated a "trillion-dollar communique" to help combat the global financial crisis – the G20 in Pittsburgh will require the U.S. to find solutions to problems in a wide array of topics and create a more diverse set of alliances.

The White House will be looking to make progress on: finding allies for a U.S. plan to launch an International Monetary Fund (IMF) review of national economic policies; climate change and climate finance agreements in anticipation of a December summit in Copenhagen; forging international agreements on executive pay, bank liquidity, standardised global accounting practices and government oversight on hedge funds; avoiding perceptions that the U.S. is pursuing protectionist trade policy; and reforming the IMF to give greater voting power to large emerging economies.

"Developing countries won't put money into the World Bank if they continue to have so little voting power," John E. Ruthrauff, senior manager of member advocacy at the NGO InterAction, told IPS. "To have governance be more fair they need to adjust their voting power to the size of the economies of the countries. This doesn't solve the problem but it starts to engage emerging economies in the IMF and World Bank."

Adjusting IMF voting power to give large countries such as Brazil or China increased influence would be a positive step towards engaging some of the world's most influential developing nations in international governance and increasing their participation in development funds and international financial institutions (IFIs).

"This would be a positive step for engaging China and other developing countries and they would see (the U.S. effort on this issue) very favourably," said Ruthrauff.

Domestic opposition on Capitol Hill will be a source of irritation for U.S. allies who would like to see the U.S. do more on climate change which has been held back by limited progress on cap and trade legislation in the Senate.

"We are less than 80 days away from the Copenhagen climate change conference in December and it is time to get serious. I am worried about the lack of ambition in the negotiations," said European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso.

Concerns over protectionism have risen in the last month since Obama imposed tariffs on Chinese tyre imports in what many fear is the first sign of the president caving to domestic protectionist pressures.

"The response we've seen from the Chinese to date from the case has been measured and we hope that's a good sign. The discussions between (Premier) Hu and Obama at the U.N. and [those they] will be having at the G20 are positive signs," Erin Ennis, vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, told IPS.

"(The tariffs) will be a point of discussion for the Chinese. All members of the G20 committed in April to avoid steps that can be perceived as protectionist. Other member countries may express different points of view on what the U.S. administration did," she said.

Success in Pittsburgh could offer the White House increased domestic support if the U.S. is seen as a capable and respected leader in the G20, but domestic opposition in Washington may give some U.S. allies cause for concern about the ability of the president to deliver on his calls to action for the U.N. and G20.

"All of us need to act more responsibly on behalf of a better economic future," Obama said in a Saturday radio address.