Clemens Wergin on Obama's attitude towards Europe

Clemens Wergin writes in the conservative daily Die Welt about political relations between US President Barack Obama and Europe: "Europe has made itself comfortable in the leeward side of world history. During the Cold War people got used to it being for the most part the Americans who ensured (Western) Europe's security. … But we on the old continent should not deceive ourselves. The times when the US felt a strong sentimental bond with Europe are gradually coming to an end. The very president who appears to stand closest to Europe politically symbolises this change both biographically and sociologically. Barack Obama's view of the world is focused on Asia, not Europe. … Obama lacks the family and cultural ties that for centuries were a defining feature of America' traditional political elite. And also those who Obama has placed in the powerhouse in Washington are much more colourful and un-European in terms of their origins than those who preceded them. … Obama has shown that he is capable of unsentimentally dropping his political fellow travellers when they turn into a burden. And Europe can't even count on Obama having any sentimental feelings about the old continent. So if Europe wants to be taken seriously as a partner it must offer more than just pretty values."

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