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Former presidents mostly effort to debar overshadowing existent presidents. So erstwhile President Barack Obama traveled to COP26, the United Nations clime acme being held successful Glasgow, Scotland, helium made definite to bash truthful a week aft satellite leaders had attended, to present himself arsenic a “private citizen” and to repeatedly praise the efforts of his erstwhile White House colleague, President Biden, to walk a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
As The Post’s Dan Zak reports from Glasgow, Obama described himself arsenic a “hype man” for different U.S. officials. “I americium John Kerry’s DJ Khaled,” helium said astatine a backstage lawsuit Monday, referring respectively to the U.S. diplomat and clime envoy and the ubiquitous grounds producer.
But Obama felt little similar an opening enactment and much similar a headliner. Greeted similar a caput of state, Obama drew a capableness assemblage for his speech, with galore observers gushing implicit his remarks and immoderate describing him arsenic the most fashionable leader astatine the full two-week event. An nonfiction successful the section Scotsman paper said the 44th president had “sprinkled immoderate stardust implicit Glasgow” and that it whitethorn beryllium the “inspirational jolt it needs.”
Even with a week betwixt them, that planetary prima powerfulness that Obama brought to Glasgow chopped a stark opposition with Biden. The existent president was mostly well-received, but the astir aggravated media sum helium received was for allegedly dozing disconnected during the satellite person conception of speeches on the archetypal afloat time of COP26.
Before Obama spoke, immoderate observers suggested that Biden was simply repeating an aged message. Last week, French tv big Yann Barthès contrasted Biden’s 2021 code with remarks made by Obama astatine the COP21, the U.N. clime acme successful 2015 that led to the Paris agreement. Noting the akin language, Barthès asked: Was determination a consciousness of deja vu?
For Biden, Obama’s enduring bequest connected the satellite signifier is some a blessing and a curse. Few caller American leaders person been viewed arsenic positively arsenic Obama extracurricular of U.S. borders — and Biden benefits from his ain relation arsenic vice president successful this globally fashionable administration. However, Biden’s medication not lone has to unrecorded up to Obama’s successes but besides person the satellite to look past his failures.
Pew Research Center has been tracking views of the United States among selected countries since 2000, polling thousands of radical astir the satellite to springiness a barometer of planetary enactment for U.S. presidents and their policies.
Positive views of Obama were overwhelming arsenic helium entered bureau successful 2009, a stark opposition to the favorability of President George W. Bush by the extremity of his 2nd term. In cardinal U.S. allies similar Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, astir 9 retired of 10 radical that twelvemonth said they trusted the U.S. president to “do the close thing” connected planetary affairs.
Biden did not garner rather the aforesaid overwhelming enactment that Obama had; 93 percent of Germans said they had assurance successful Obama successful 2009, compared with 78 percent who said the aforesaid of Biden successful 2021. Similar gaps were seen successful different nations.
Laura Silver, a elder researcher with Pew, said it was hard to marque a nonstop examination betwixt Obama’s and Biden’s planetary popularity, noting that they had only gathered information connected Biden once, successful the spring.
“Both President Obama and President Biden entered bureau to wide confidence, peculiarly successful examination to President Bush and President Trump,” Silver said via email.
But Biden’s planetary support numbers look improbable to person ticked up since then; the Pew survey was conducted earlier international events including the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and COP26.
Biden indispensable besides woody with the bequest of Trump. Views of U.S. enactment sunk to a nadir aft Trump took bureau successful 2017, with assurance successful him mounting oregon matching grounds lows successful astir each countries polled. Biden has easy surpassed these lows, successful immoderate cases improving connected Trump’s assurance ratings by 70 percent points.
Trump’s policies of “America First” enactment him astatine likelihood with some enemies and allies, with lone a fewer like-minded leaders specified arsenic Brazilian populist Jair Bolsonaro consistently successful his corner. In each but a fistful of countries surveyed by Pew, Trump was fixed antagonistic marks — ranking down China’s Xi Jinping successful planetary popularity. When Trump said successful a code astatine the United Nations General Assembly successful 2018 that his medication had “accomplished much than astir immoderate medication successful the past of our country,” helium drew audible laughter.
Many overseas officials were openly relieved astatine the imaginable of Biden returning to the White House, suggesting that the erstwhile vice president and long-running Senate Foreign Relations Committee seat would correspond a re-engagement with the world. “Welcome Back, America,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted past November aft polls showed Biden with a commanding pb — a sentiment widely echoed connected Twitter.
But others suggested that the acquisition of 4 years of Trump was scarring. Trump’s moves to propulsion the United States retired of Paris clime agreement, the Iran atomic deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other groups and treaties raised deeper questions astir the logic of dealing with an ever much polarized United States.
“However overmuch Biden volition overhaul U.S. politics, determination is nary security argumentation against a aboriginal instrumentality to Trumpism,” Carnegie Europe’s Rosa Balfour wrote successful April.
During some of their speeches, Biden and Obama took purpose astatine Trump specifically. Biden personally apologized for Trump pulling the United States retired of the Paris agreement. “I conjecture I shouldn’t apologize, but I bash apologize for the information that the United States and the past medication pulled retired of the Paris accords and enactment america benignant of down the 8 shot a small bit,” helium said past week.
Obama concurred, suggesting Monday that Trump’s tenure was “four years of progressive hostility toward clime science, coming from the precise apical of our government.”
But Obama’s beingness astatine COP26 — and perhaps, what appears to beryllium his lingering popularity — besides stood arsenic a reminder of however the anticipation once projected onto him had not been met. After his speech, the erstwhile president had arranged to conscionable with younker delegates to sermon the future, but immoderate blamed him for failing to travel done connected earlier clime commitments.
Writing to Obama on Twitter, Ugandan activistic Vanessa Nakate said she was conscionable 13 erstwhile affluent nations including the United States promised to contribute $100 billion a twelvemonth by 2020 to assistance poorer nations combat clime alteration — but that the United States and different countries had breached that promise. “Earth’s richest state does not lend capable to life-saving funds,” Nakate wrote.
Obama wanted to conscionable younker activists, she added, but “we privation action.” And if the existent president wants to interruption the rhythm of U.S. inaction connected clime alteration successful the eyes of the world, helium whitethorn good person to measurement retired of his aged boss’s shadow.
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