Obama pursues charm campaign at Americas summit

U.S.-Cuba Relationship Talk of Summit

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Sunday pursued his diplomatic charm campaign in the Americas in the closing hours of a regional summit that has helped restore the United States' battered image in the hemisphere.

Obama met on Sunday with leaders from Central America, a corner of the continent that has experienced U.S. military interventions and where at least one country voted to return a former left-wing guerrilla to the presidency.

The U.S. leader's contacts during the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago have mended broken diplomatic fences in a region where America-bashing has long been accepted.

"I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with the leaders of Central America. Obviously we have a long history of relations between the United States and Central America," Obama told reporters at Sunday's meeting.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla leader and fierce critic of U.S. policies, sat next to Obama.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya praised Obama's "listen and learn" approach at the summit. "The treatment that we're receiving is totally different in terms of more openness, more dialogue and more respect," he told reporters.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said the Central American leaders held "cordial and frank" talks for about an hour with Obama on migration issues, deportations and drug trafficking.

Although Obama has had to field a chorus of calls to lift the U.S. trade embargo on communist-ruled Cuba, his cooperative diplomatic style appears to have gone down well with his Latin American and Caribbean peers.

He even appeared to have won over die-hard critics of U.S. policy, like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who often pilloried Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, as the diabolic epitome of "imperialism."

Chavez, a prolific Bush-basher, felt sufficiently reassured by Obama to propose naming a new ambassador to Washington. He expelled the U.S. ambassador in September and Washington responded by kicking out Venezuela's envoy.

A formal closing ceremony later on Sunday was due to set the seal on the two-day summit that introduced Obama to the region. The U.S. president and more than 30 other regional leaders brainstormed on the global economic crisis and energy and security challenges.

OBJECTIONS TO SUMMIT DOCUMENT

It was not clear whether there would be a formal signing ceremony of the lengthy draft summit declaration, because a group of mostly leftist presidents led by Chavez had previously rejected it as deficient.

The group, including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras, said the document failed to address Cuba's exclusion from the summit and did not provide solutions to the global economic crisis that threatens to send millions in the region back to poverty.

"We don't know if everybody is going to sign, but we hope so ... We need consensus and we hope there will be no damper," Dennis McComie, a spokesman for the Trinidadian summit hosts told Reuters. He said Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning was trying to persuade the recalcitrant group to sign.

Despite this, Latin American and Caribbean leaders were hailing the summit as a success.

In contrast to the previous 2005 summit in Argentina that ended in discord, the Port of Spain meeting was humming with good feelings projected by the young new U.S. president, who promised a cooperative partnership of equals with his peers.

"The presence of President Obama has certainly made a powerful contribution to the positive climate and success of the summit," Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters.

Insulza did not believe the summit was distracted by a debate over U.S.-Cuban ties that dominated its buildup.

Hopes for a rapprochement between Washington and Havana have risen after both Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro signaled they were ready to talk to try to end the long-standing ideological conflict between their countries.

Obama told the opening session of the summit on Friday he wanted a "new beginning" with Cuba and had made a gesture by easing some aspects of the U.S. embargo earlier in the week.

The U.S. leader also made clear he wanted Cuba to reciprocate by opening up political freedoms for its citizens.

In the past, Havana has rejected placing such conditions on an improvement in ties as meddling in its sovereignty.

Obama tempers optimism with reality on economy

WASHINGTON – Aiming to assert control over the nation's economic debate, President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned Americans eager for good news that "by no means are we out of the woods" and argued his broad domestic agenda is the path to recovery.

In a speech at Georgetown University, Obama aimed to juggle his recent glass-half-full takes on the economy with a determination to not be stamped as naive in the face lingering problems. He summarized actions his administration has taken to steady the limping economy and coupled that with a fresh overview of his domestic goals.

The speech, which key aides had signaled in advance would not contain any major announcements, came as Obama nears his symbolic 100-day mark in office, important because that has become a traditional marker by which to judge new administrations.

"There is no doubt that times are still tough," Obama said. "But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope. And beyond that, way off in the distance, we can see a vision of an America's future that is far different than our troubled economic past."

Obama's message came on a day of conflicting economic indicators and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's suggestion that the recession may at last be bottoming out.
It would have been difficult to make that case based on a report the government released earlier Tuesday showing that retail sales plummeted by 1.1 percent in March, a performance much poorer than experts had anticipated. At the same time, wholesale prices dropped sharply, a strong indication that inflation appears to pose little threat to the economy.

In a speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Bernanke talked of flickering signs of improvement, citing recent data on home and auto sales, home building and consumer spending.
But the government's broader message — that a full turnaround might be a long time coming — may not be welcome news for a weary U.S. public.

Obama, in fact, said in his speech that a complete recovery depends on building a new foundation for the U.S. economy and making changes in the political landscape. And he said anew that rules governing the financial system must be made compatible with Digital Age technology and innovation, telling Congress that "I expect a bill to arrive on my desk for signature before the year is out."

He also said the economy must be transformed from one less dependent on a risk-obsessed financial sector and more on clean energy, good education and health care costs brought under control.

"We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand," he said, invoking a Biblical reference to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. "We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest, where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad."

Obama also said the problem is exacerbated by politicians with an outsized interest in scoring points and an impatient media.

"When a crisis hits," he said, "there is all too often a lurch from shock to trance, with everyone responding to the tempest of the moment until the furor has died down and the media coverage has moved on to something else, instead of confronting the major challenges that will shape our future in a sustained and focused way."
"This can't be one of those times," Obama said.

Obama put his fledgling presidency on the line when he advocated sweeping new government intervention and spending to right the troubled economic conditions. Shortly after taking office he signed a $787 billion package intended to boost the economy and his administration also has unveiled a slew of other programs aimed to right the troubled home, banking and auto sectors.
"Taken together, these actions are starting to generate signs of economic progress," he said, citing canceled government-sector layoffs, new clean-energy industry hires, a spate of refinancings, and signs of increased credit flows.

But, the president said, "2009 will continue to be a difficult year." He predicted more job losses, foreclosures, and gyrating stock markets.
The president devoted a significant portion of his speech to defending actions he has taken in the face of criticism he has heard mainly from Republicans — but also from some of the more conservative members of own Democratic Party — that he has "been spending with reckless abandon, pushing a liberal social agenda while mortgaging our children's future."
Not so, Obama said.

"The last thing a government should do in the middle of a recession is to cut back on spending," the president said.

As for the long-term, increasingly dire federal budget deficit picture, he said that investments in new industries and economic foundations is crucial to future success and even to reducing the deficit. "Chronically slow growth will not help our long-term budget situation," he said.

The president also defended the massive and unpopular government programs enacted under the Bush administration and expanded under Obama to bail out banks and other financial institutions. He acknowledged that sending money directly to taxpayers might be more palatable — but said it wouldn't be as effective.

"The truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in eight or ten dollars of loans to families and businesses, a multiplier effect that can ultimately lead to a faster pace of economic growth," Obama said.