Morning Bell: Obama Has Something To Apologize For

Mike Brownfield / May 24, 2011

When President Ronald Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate in West Germany and famously demanded that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “Tear down this wall!” he brought to Europe—and indeed the world—America’s conviction that freedom and democracy are a powerful liberating force whose time had come for those living under communist oppression.

By contrast, as President Barack Obama travels throughout Europe this week and meets with U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom and Poland, he brings with him the baggage of his presidency—more than two years of a foreign policy that has neglected America’s friends in Europe. Though the President has embarked on a worldwide “apology tour” for what he believes are America’s transgressions, he now truly has something to apologize for.

First and foremost on the President’s list of apologies should be his foreign policy decisions that have led to a weakening of the “Special Relationship” between the United States and Great Britain. That relationship is an alliance based on shared ideals and interests in the broader world, and its strength is not to be taken for granted. The Special Relationship rests on a mutual desire to play a leading role in the world, embracing the classically liberal values on which America was founded, and maintaining relations with other nations that are compatible with that relationship. (more…)