EU - Obama at G-20 summit: Popular president, unpopular plan - by Christi Parsons
Across Europe, Obama's poll numbers are as high or higher than his substantial approval ratings at home. But neither popularity nor a more conciliatory approach has prevented some foreign leaders from brushing off Obama's proposals for recovery. German and French leaders have shunted aside the president's call for increased government spending to stimulate their economies. The Czech Republic's prime minister even characterized the U.S. proposal as charting "the road to hell." Instead of more stimulus spending, European and Asian leaders want more government regulation of the financial system. And they have been openly skeptical of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's regulatory plans, suggesting they don't go far enough. Nor have foreign leaders responded wholeheartedly to Obama's call for a greater commitment to the war in Afghanistan.
"European governments, for the sake of pleasing Obama, are not going to make concessions on these fundamental interests and political requirements," said Reginald Dale, director of the Transatlantic Media Network and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS.
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