Obama Makes First Foreign Policy Error

President-elect Obama is getting a rude welcome to the world of international diplomacy and the wide-reaching effect his decisions will have:

President-elect Obama has spoken to the president of Poland about relations between the two countries but didn't make a commitment on the multibillion-dollar missile defense program undertaken by the Bush administration, an Obama aide said Saturday.

That contrasts with a statement by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who said Obama told him the missile defense project would continue.

The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement in August for basing American missiles in Poland as part of a shield against possible missile attacks from Iran.

A missile shield set up so close to its borders has been a sore point with Russia and has served as another dent in its battered relationship with the U.S.

So here we are with Obama telling a world leader one thing and the public another, very much like his statements on NAFTA during the election where he slammed the treaty on the campaign trail while simultaneously winking at the Canucks and saying it was just for the consumption of the gullible American electorate.

But this is not Canada, this is Russia, the former Soviet Union, the Bear who was our enemy for decades and who will be again soon. Medvedev is the puppet while Putin pulls the strings and Putin is getting a measure of just who Obama is. Russia wants to regain its influence in the region and it starts with Poland, a fierce ally and a nation that dearly needs us to be very clear about our intentions. Instead we get mealy-mouthed rhetoric from Obama.

Putin is paying attention and he's gauging the make up of the man who will replace Bush. I'm sure he's smiling with Obama's response to this issue. He's rebuilding his military (a sorry military at present) in hopes of becoming the power broker in Eastern Europe, Southwestern Asia, the Northern Pacific and the Arctic. The Bush administrations aim with placing the missile shield in Poland was to assure our ally that we are paying attention plus to force Russia's hand. Obama has essentially laid all that work to waste by his dithering.

This was not an easy plan for Lech Kaczynski to get his country to accept and he probably spent massive political capital to do so and Obama leaves the man hanging on an issue of great import.

This is no longer a campaign, that's already been won. This is not speaking in front of adoring fans who mindlessly scream "Yes we can" after every sentence. No, this is the real deal where decisions (or none decisions as the case may be) have immediate and far-reaching effect. If Europe finally likes us again as liberals are so happy to point out, it sure seems strange to leave a major European country (and one that suffered first under the Nazi's then under the Soviets in recent history) twisting in the wind.

A troubling start to say the least.

Obama Lying To Us and the Canucks

We're starting to see a breach in the carefully orchestrated Obama campaign. Essentially, Democrats and the media have been giving him a pass regardless of what he says. All he has to say is "change" and they all swoon.

Now that he's the front-runner, things are going to change and he better get his message straight before further incidents like this occur:

Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned.

Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical of the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement over the course of the Democratic primaries, saying that the deal has cost U.S. workers' jobs.

Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources.

The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.

I imagine this is what he meant when he said he would talk to other world leaders. He's being duplicitous to the Canadians or he's flat-out lying to Americans, either way it's shady politics.

As noted by Ed, Canada and Mexico rely on us as a major export partner and Obama's infantile mix of populism and protectionism will do nothing but hurt our relationship with those two nations. It's interesting that this was leaked to CTV by what I would suppose was a Canadian with high level authority. That says to me that they don't rust Obama and will d whatever is necessary to let the world know that he's speaking out of both sides of his mouth. NAFTA is extremely important to Canada and it's become a large issue in their national politics.

If he can't be trusted on a matter such as this, what could he possible say to Ahmadinejad behind closed doors or Bashar Assad? This dangerous politics of the vilest sort.

This is a serious look into the character of Obama and it isn't a pretty sight at all. To gamble and tell the American electorate one thing and whisper something completely opposite to an age-old ally is troubling at best, extremely damaging at worst. If the American people can't trust him and one of our staunchest allies can't either, who can?

Exit question: Why did the two Senators demagogue Canada and say nothing about the jobs we've lost to China?