Obama in Europe: the ‘special relationship’ redefined

Last week he redefined America’s strategy towards the Middle East, with perhaps limited success. This week, as the reverberations of the Arab Spring continue to echo across the world, President Obama is in Europe for what is being called “the anchor speech” before both Houses of Parliament, setting out to redefine a transatlantic relationship which has not exactly been top of America’s priority list.

This is Obama‘s ninth visit to Europe: he has been feted here as a celebrity, politicians all clamouring for a piece of him. He was the man who offered hope – remember that? He promised a new partnership with the continent, and an end to the old Bush division of the allies into “old” and “new”.

Then came something of a backlash as Obama’s foreign policy focus shifted to Asia.

Despite a world still being shaken by massive upheavals, Europe’s love affair with Obama appears just as vibrant.

At one stage, his administration seemed to be downgrading the “special relationship” with Britain: a bust of Churchill was removed from the Oval Office, and there was “Giftgate”, when a visiting Gordon Brown gave Obama a pen crafted from the timbers of an old slave ship, and all he got was a bunch of DVDs in return.

Not to forget the BP oil spill – when the company was styled as “British Petroleum” as if to emphasise where the real blame for the disaster should be placed.

Love affair

Despite all of that, and despite a world still being shaken by massive upheavals, Europe’s love affair with Obama appears just as vibrant. So this week, after the nostalgia-fest of his Irish “homecoming of sorts”, and those “O’Bama” eyes are smiling, perhaps at the thought of those potential Irish votes back home – there is a full-on state visit to Britain, with almost as much pomp and circumstance as last month’s royal wedding.

Despite the austerity culture of these economically challenged times, no expense, it seems, will be spared. As Heather Conley, from the International Centre for Strategic Studies, put it: “The focus for the visit to the UK is really to put the ‘special’ back into the US-UK relationship”.

Read more from Jon Snow: who'd want the job? Obama still does

Except… the economy, the global crash and the cuts-or-stimulus route out of recession is no longer the dominant theme, even though it is the issue which most excercises Americans back home.

In fact, according to a French diplomat, at Wednesday’s G8 summit in Deauville discussions on the economy have been relegated to “Part B of Topic 3” – coming after “democracy and freedom” and “peace and security”. This trip, it is the Middle East, the Arab Spring, Afghanistan and Libya which will take precedence.

Obama aides are keen to talk up the importance of the transatlantic relationship. Liz Sherwood-Randall, from the National Security Council, says dealings with Europe have never been more busier: “There is no other grouping of countries that we work with closer to advance the President’s agenda,” she said.

(Preparations for President Obama’s visit to the UK)

But whatever the common interest in spreading democratic freedoms, there are undoubted tensions – not least the conflict in Libya where, quite frankly, America stands accused of failing to pull its weight. David Cameron will seek more US involvement during his talks with Obama tomorrow, while the French are similarly frustrated that Colonel Gaddafi is still clinging to power.

In Afghanistan, too, there is a need to move from a war footing to a political relationship, now that allied troops are pulling out. And then, as Obama heads to Poland later this week, there is the trickier nature of the relationship with the former eastern bloc. His trip to the Czech Republic back in 2009 was thrown off course by the rift over his decision to scrap the missile defence shield.

This time, though, Polish leaders are talking about how they are uniquely placed to pass on their experience of democratic transition, to the Arab and North African countries seeking new freedoms of their own. And the White House is talking up the “core values” which bind Europe and the United States together – values which others are reaching for around the world.

But it is not all about red-carpet treatment and photo ops with schoolchildren bearing flowers for First Lady Michelle. From the future of the air campaign in Libya to what happens to Guantanamo Bay – and, yes, the economic turmoil – there is plenty of substance for Obama to deal with. And plenty more than a simple “special relationship” at stake.