Friday, November 14, 2008

Obama & the Yes Effect

drawing by marguerita
While the first telephone exchanges between Mr. Obama and foreign leaders were limited to pledges of future cooperation and invitations to visit, those leaders and their aides have also been contacting Mr. Obama’s advisers and their surrogates with suggestions on how an Obama administration should conduct, and change, American foreign policy.
The foreign efforts to sway the new team are normal during any presidential transition, but they are accelerated in this case, foreign policy experts say, because of the historic nature of Mr. Obama’s election and the significantly different course that world leaders expect him to pursue in American foreign policy.

But until Inauguration Day, Mr. McDonough said, the Obama team will be in a listen-only mode.
Diplomatic Memo - A World of Advice for Obama on Foreign Policy - NYTimes.com

No comments: