Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?
Bahukutumbi Raman, a retired officer of the Indian intelligence service and director of the Institute For Topical Studies, in Chennai, India thinks so in this Forbes piece.
Jimmy Carter took a little over three years to create the image of the U.S. as a confused and soft power. Obama is bidding fair to create that image even in his first year in office.
Jay Mehta:
A very thought provoking article.
25 May 2009, 10:33 pmObama has already taken original steps, especially dealing with the Muslim world, such as speaking to Al-Arabia, visiting Turkey and soon Egypt. Whether this will yield dividends remains to be seen, but his image in Middle East is quite positive.
He pushed the Israelis to the 2-state solution- which has angered AIPAC and the Israeli lobby.
It is so easy for anyone to be belligerent and threaten N Korea, Iran or Pakistan, but his options are rather limited without being blamed at W2. Anyway- what did W achieve except ill-will.
Ultimately his success will be determined by the success of his economic policies at home.
JLM