Since the EU is hors jeu, paying the price for Germany's Willkommenskultur, and after populist nativism is spreading at both sides of the Atlantic, the US president wisely chose to go to Asia for what might have been a last trip abroad. Unfortunately, his journey was not smooth sailing.
The arrival in China was somewhat chaotic. Everybody familiar with the Chinese knows that "face" is of a crucial importance to them. So it was probably no accident that they decided to deprive the President of the customary red carpet arrival, which they seldom or never forget. The President preferred to gloss over it. In the group photo, he was again "marginalized", while Putin and Erdogan had their happy moment. The president of the Philippines addressed the US president in course terms. Obama chose to ignore both the man and the chosen wording.
He gave again proof of his "cool" temperament and played on the issues rather than on comprehensible pique.
Compared to Trump, the President looks like a Jeffersonian sage. He is naturally concerned about his legacy. Trump accuses the President of being "soft" and chooses his usual path of verbal noise without subtitles. Like Farage in Europe, he can sell vulgarity as pertinence. Secretary Clinton is right to stick to the high ground, but she is hostage to the e-mail/server saga which often grounds her ambition.
President Obama has entered his last months in what must be a melancholic mood. The Republicans will remain devoid of any elegance until the last hour. The TPP might not pass because of the provincial mindset of free-trade haters (Democrats and Republicans alike). All intellectual discourse has become suspect and the populist vernacular is, for now, the voice of too many in the land. The strategic implications of the TPP have gotten lost in a myopic political abyss. The pivot to Asia is a historical choice which should not be derailed.
Trump's latest utterances and banalities during the Commander-in-Chief Forum interview were frightening and hair-raising (what else to expect from Trump?). Matt Lauer, moderator (?) of this bizarre event, should stick with The Today Show. Americans, however, should watch more of the Republican nominee so they might make up their mind once and for ever and agree that he represents an unacceptable and dangerous choice. His ISIS "plan in the no plan" is surreal. His Putin hug speaks for itself. His hit-and-run doctrine regarding oil in Iraq or other possible spoils of war goes against every principle of international law. It starts to be scary!
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