I have sat for several weeks trying to sort out where President Obama is headed on the international scene and how we can judge his performance. In the first paragraph of his recent speech to the United Nations he said that he: “is determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad.” As he has done many times in the past, he pointed out that he felt that America had acted unilaterally without regard for the interest of others. He obviously didn’t mean the first Gulf War where President George Herbert Walker Bush had put together an incredible collection of nations including Arab nations to oppose Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. I assume he didn’t mean the second Gulf War where the United States with the help of others in the United Nations passed 17 resolutions condemning Saddam Hussein for his activities and threatened action if he did not change his ways. President Obama for instance could be singling out President George W. Bush’s remarks after 9-11 that you are either with us or against us in terms of fighting terrorism, or perhaps Bush’s negative reactions to the global warming issue. Whatever the reasons, no one should question President Bush’s lack of popularity overseas.

Let me put on the table several issues that need to be resolved. It will be interesting to see if other nations are willing to act “boldly and collectively” with the United States. The first issue is relatively minor. I happened to be present for a discussion of this in Germany with members of the Bundestag and the German government. The United States asked if Germany would take a few prisoners from Guantanamo and keep them in Germany. The German’s answer, as might be expected, was no. They said that they would study some of the prisoner files that had been presented to them and were interested in who else was going to help the United States with these Guantanamo prisoners. This negative reaction by the Germans was echoed by other countries when approached by the United States. Can President Obama reverse this?

The second issue is one that has been around for a long time and that is the disagreement over the relatively small amount of money members of the European Union put into their defense budgets versus the large amount of money the United States spends. The United States has argued that we are providing military protection including a nuclear shield for the members of the European Union. One would hope under President Obama’s approach that these nations will change their position and fund defense more equitably.

Another issue that was raised while I was in Germany was whether Germany would send more troops to Afghanistan, would put further restrictions on what German troops in Afghanistan could do, and/or would set a date for withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan. The reluctance of Germany to do more represents the position of many other nations that have troops in Afghanistan. Following President Obama’s speech one can assume that if other nations don’t rally to the cause we will get out of Afghanistan. President Obama is studying his options and will decide by the end of this year.

Finally, there is the issue of Iran. President Obama was briefed during the transition about the nuclear factory that was being built. He is trying to get enough support in the United Nations and the Security Council to bring sanctions against Iran. We have seen in the past (i.e., Iraq) that sanctions usually end up hurting the innocent people in the country who oppose the government’s actions. Initial talks look promising but there is a long way to go. If sanctions don’t work President Obama is faced with the choice of military action with or without the consent of the Security Council and with or without the involvement of Israel.

These are just four examples of where the United States may have a difficult time working collectively and not being in a lonely leadership role. Personally, I believe that the United States is unique in its form of government and its values as embodied in our Constitution. We are the most powerful nation in the world. We have a rule of law. We have spent a great deal of our resources both human and economic trying to make the world a safer place to live. We haven’t been perfect, but try to imagine the recent history of the world if we hadn’t been involved, hadn’t taken a leadership position regardless of what others thought or were doing. What would the world look like today if Germany and Japan had won WWII? The President’s message is clear. Time will tell if it will work.

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Lou Frey represented East and Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979.  He was the fourth Republican elected to Congress from Florida since the late 1800's.  In his last election, he received nearly 80% of the vote.  He was one of five elected Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93^rd and 94^th Congress.  He served on...