This of course won't win him any points with the tea partiers. For them, admiration from foreign leaders means that the President has sold out the country to the international communist/UN conspiracy.

This only underscores the ridiculous position of the Republicans. Their opposition to and lying about anything the the president supports (for political reasons) hurts us not only domestically but internationally (which was true before health care's passage). Ex.: look at the president's non-controversial nominees that are being held up: some are in the field of international trade, some foreign relations, national security, etc.

The Dems have got to make the Rs pay by making a big deal out of all of this for the mid-terms.

With a new treaty on nuclear weapons now looming, I have seen virtually no discussion of the fact that passage by the U.S. Senate will require a majority vote of 67....not 60....67.

Given the mood of the GOP these days to block virtually anything Obama proposes, and adding to that their stinging defeat on health care, approval is, it would seem, far from an easy deal.

Add to that the GOP's long-standing mantra (along with fewer taxes on the rich) that armed might is the only true way to proceed in the world, and you can already hear the Neanderthals on the neocon right firing up the propaganda machine..."Dangerously weakens us -- sends the wrong message to China and North Korea --- never let our guard down." Cheney, Liz Cheney, Krauthammer.....

Obama MUST have GOP votes to win treaty approval. How much is he going to have to "give" to get it?

I'm guessing this gives him the juice to tell Netanyahu to stuff it, for example.

"I have seen virtually no discussion of the fact that passage by the U.S. Senate will require a majority vote of 67....not 60....67."

Good point. I can basically guarantee that Lugar will support it, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nelson and/or Lieberman vote against it just to be difficult. So you need to find 8 or 9 more GOP votes to guarantee passage. Obama can probably get two votes from Maine and a few other semi-sane members like Voinovich. Not going to be easy to get to 67.

Today, for example, the United States and Russia are poised to announce an agreement on a new nuclear arms treaty, creating a successor to START. Reuters noted that Russia has been "watching Obama's domestic successes and failures throughout the process."

I think this will really add to his perceived clout, because nuclear arms reduction was one of his biggest foreign policy goals.
The accomplishments are starting to accumulate rapidly--the AHA/SAFRA twofer, the jobs bill(hopefully with more to come), and now this major arms treaty. Not to mention the stimulus, which everyone seems to forget, but which was a major accomplishment as well, and is still being implemented.

I'm guessing this gives him the juice to tell Netanyahu to stuff it, for example.

I think he kinda already did that. It was really stupid of any Israeli PM to think that he could simply out last an American president who is barely over a year into his first term.
And as many American politicians could have told Netanyahu, it's extremely foolish to believe that you can beat Obama at the long game. His reputation as a twelve dimensional chess playing ninja has only grown with the passage of HCR.

Teabag-rumor has it that, upon completion of this treaty, the Red Army is poised to land two full Army Corps in Alaska, transit through BC, and invade the insane-wingnut eastern portion of Washington State. Pathetic screams of "Wolverines!" will begin in 5......4......3.................

I imagine that the Republicans tantrums are likewise making American conservatives look like the freakish Pre-K drool-goons they are in the eyes of the world. There's just no mistaking what absolute morons these slavering ninnyhammers have become collectively.

That's right. I said "ninnyhammers!" I'm that put out!

Carter/the Shah/Khomeini
Reagan/Gorbachev
Khrushchev/Kennedy
Nixon/Mao/Brezhnev
Clinton/Arafat

Obama/Ahmadinejad ??

Making no other point other than perception in politics is vary important and how domestic weakness/strength is interpreted as international weakness/strength.

It's amazing to me that Obama's accomplishment of stopping the U.S. ecomomy's headlong plunge over a cliff, and actually producing growth in the economy -- all within the first few months of his presidency amounts to -- " produced few major domestic.... victories." Oy.

GERMAN LEADERS PRAISE THE PASSAGE OF U.S. HEALTHCARE REFORM

It doesn't happen very often that Germany's political leadership celebrates the passage of a purely domestic bill by US Congress. But that was the case when H. R. 4872 was cleared by the House of Representatives last weekend, even though the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 has nothing to do with transatlantic relations, international trade, climate change or security policy.

The day after the vote, German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated President Obama for passing a central reform project of his presidency. And Germany's Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Guido Westerwelle said he expected that this success would provide a boost to the president's foreign policy agenda.

The fact that both the German chancellor and foreign minister praised the passage of domestic legislative measure in Congress underscores that the symbolic importance of this health care vote transcends national politics.

DEUTSCHE WELLE

Benny Nitwityahoo was the first to discover this new position by Obama - and it happened to this idiot the hard way. Now if Obama just lets Benny know that the annual $3 billion welfare check is on the line, we'll see some movement from the Jewish Nazis running Israel, and a return to power by the good folks there.

From today's Ha'Aretz:

Netanyahu leaves U.S. disgraced, isolated and weaker
By Aluf Benn

Details emerging from Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington remain incomplete, but the conclusion may nonetheless be drawn that the prime minister erred in choosing to fly to the United States this week. The visit - touted as a fence-mending effort, a bid to strengthen the tenuous ties between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama - only highlighted the deep rift between the American and Israeli administrations.

The prime minister leaves America disgraced, isolated, and altogether weaker than when he came.

Instead of setting the diplomatic agenda, Netanyahu surrendered control over it. Instead of leaving the Palestinian issue aside and focusing on Iran, as he would like, Netanyahu now finds himself fighting for the legitimacy of Israeli control over East Jerusalem.

The most sensitive and insoluble core issues - those which when raised a decade ago led to the dissolution of the peace process and explosion of the second intifada - are now being served as a mere appetizer.

At the start of his visit, Netanyahu was tempted to bask in the warm welcome he received at the AIPAC conference, at which he gave his emotional address on Jerusalem.

Taking a page from Menachem Begin, he spoke not on behalf of the State of Israel, but in the name of the Jewish people itself and its millennia of history.

His speech was not radical rightist rhetoric. Reading between the lines, one could spot a certain willingness to relinquish West Bank settlements as long as Israel maintains a security buffer in the Jordan Valley.

But at the White House, the prime minister's speech to thousands of pro-Israel activists and hundreds of cheering congressmen looked like an obvious attempt to raise political capital against the American president.

Knowing Netanyahu would be reenergized by his speech at the lobby, Obama and his staff set him a honey trap. Over the weekend they sought to quell the row that flared up during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's trip here two weeks ago, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Netanyahu's response to the ultimatums Washington presented to him as "useful."

Special envoy George Mitchell made a televised visit to the prime minister's bureau Sunday to invite Netanyahu to the White House. Washington, it seemed, was trying to make nice.

Far from it. Just when Netanyahu thought he had resolved the crisis by apologizing to Biden, Clinton called him up for a dressing down.

This time as well, Netanyahu almost believed the crisis had passed, that he had survived by offering partial, noncommittal answers to the Americans' questions. Shortly before meeting with Obama, Netanyahu even warned the Palestinians that should they continue to demand a freeze on construction, he would postpone peace talks by a year.

His arrogant tone underscored the fact that Netanyahu believed that on the strength of his AIPAC speech, he could call the next few steps of the diplomatic dance.

But then calamity struck. At their White House meeting, Obama made clear to his guest that the letter Netanyahu had sent was insufficient and returned it for further corrections. Instead of a reception as a guest of honor, Netanyahu was treated as a problem child, an army private ordered to do laps around the base for slipping up at roll call.

The revolution in the Americans' behavior is clear to all. On Sunday morning Obama was still anxiously looking ahead to the House of Representatives vote on health care - the last thing he wanted was a last-minute disagreement with congressmen over ties with Israel.

The moment the bill was passed, however, a victorious Obama was free to deal with his unruly guest.

The Americans made every effort to downplay the visit. As during his last visit in November, Netanyahu was invited to the White House at a late hour, without media coverage or a press conference. If that were not enough, the White House spokesman challenged Netanyahu's observation at AIPAC that "Jerusalem is not a settlement."

The Americans didn't even wait for him to leave Washington to make their disagreement known. It was not the behavior Washington shows an ally, but the kind it shows an annoyance.

The approval of construction at the Shepherd Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, announced before his meeting with Obama, again caught Netanyahu unawares. Apparently the special panel appointed after the Ramat Shlomo debacle to prevent such surprises failed its first test.

Netanyahu is having his most difficult week since returning to office, beginning with the unfortunate decision to relocate the planned emergency room at Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center and lasting through his humiliating jaunt through Washington.

Returning to Israel today, Netanyahu will need to work hard to rehabilitate his image, knowing full well that Obama will not relent, but instead demand that he stop zigzagging and decide, once and for all, whether he stands with America or with the settlers.

It has rather direct bearing on things like treaties. The Kyoto disaster (where Clinton signed the agreement but couldn't get congress to comply) is frequently cited as a reason why foreign governments shouldn't have to take the president seriously. After all, what's the point? The president can make all the promises he likes, but if he can't bend congress, then his promises are worthless.