Colin Bradford is a senior fellow at CIGI and at the Brookings Institution.

Economic Interests

Headlines varied on April 3, with the Washington Post giving favour to the European agenda by heralding "Nations Craft Hard-Fought Pledge to Repair World Financial System" while the New York Times, "Obama Ties U.S. to World in Seeking Blue print for Global Recovery". The much discussed US priority, of course, was the fiscal stimulus package.  The Wall Street Journal in its "G20 Scorecard" clearly stated under "Losses" that the G20 "didn't agree on a fiscal-stimulus target."

The editorial opinions were dour:  The New York Times: "They fell short"; The Washington Post editorial headline, echoed Obama:  "'We Did Okay': The G20 summit produces a few useful economic steps-but misses a big opportunity."  But, a New York Times / CBS News poll taken between April 1 and 5 during the G20 Summit and Obama's European trip, showed that "the percentage of (American) people feeling the economy is getting better grew from February to April."  Obama's willingness to yield rather than push his priorities in the end seemed to enhance his standing among G20 leaders and also at home. The conservative Washington Times front-page headline declared: "Obama yields to ‘collective action'; U.S. wants to cooperate, not dominate."  A cartoon inside showed Obama at the summit resigned to realities, saying: "Well, there's another proposal we can't agree on."

Political Interests

But none of these difficulties over economic priorities or disagreements on issues seemed to affect the American public's view of the effectiveness of the new president at the G20 Summit and on the global stage. More than a few commentators remarked on his ease and confidence in the summit setting, his ability to interact with a variety of leaders, and present a positive, but realistic explanation of what was happening. The NYTimes/CBS poll revealed that "two-thirds of respondents said leaders of other countries had respect for Mr. Obama."

It was impressive to see Obama chiding Brazilian President Lula, "you are the most popular politician on the planet"; engaging with Turkish President Erdogan and others after the photo op; talking intently with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the background while the world focused on whether Michelle Obama or the Queen had broken new ground in royal protocol; and of course playing along with the Berlusconi thumbs-up caper with Russian President Medvedev. But most important was the fact that Obama was seen to broker an agreement between French President Sarkozy and China's lead, President Hu Jintao, on tax havens, by taking each aside and talking to them individually.

International Interests

As a result of these actions and perceptions, President Obama seemed to Americans to have emerged from the G20 Summit not only as effective, but also having made progress in restoring confidence, trust and stature to the United States' position in the world. While the summit was perceived to have fallen short on substance and the US unable to get its priorities fully met, the overall impression was that America's position in the world was adapting to new global realities and taking a strong leadership position in what Gordon Brown called "the new global order."  As Philip Stephens aptly put it in the Financial Times, "the US president has grasped that if America is to hold on to is pre-eminent role in the world it will be with a system in which others have a stake. Mr. Obama shows wisdom beyond his years in realizing that to understand the extent of US power - and it is still unrivalled - a president must also map its limits."

Global Leadership

The American public, along with the global public, was seeing the G20 Summit in the context of a broader array of highly visible international engagements during which the new president was making his first major appearance on the global stage. Differences of views among G20 leaders were clearly evident, as the cartoon in the Washington Times, clearly shows. But even though some agreements "fell short" in the view of many, the headlines, articles and editorials still revealed concerted if not coordinated action on financial system reform, international resources for addressing gaps and crises in global finance, and pledges to "taking whatever action is necessary" to "accelerate the return to trend growth," to "not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras," to "ensure our domestic regulatory systems are strong," to "rebuild trust in our financial system," and "to recognize that the current crisis has a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable in the poorest countries."  Real resources and processes for monitoring implementation were put in place, and the international institutions for advancing the G20 agenda will be strengthened to better deal with the global dimensions of the crisis. The image, impression and profile of the G20 London Summit were ones of "collective action," as the Washington Times put it. Leaders were doing the public's business. Even though it was not seen in America as a stunning success, it was seen as progress.

The lead sentence in The New York Times front page report on the NYTimes/CBS poll at the time of the G20 Summit (April 1-5) reveals: "Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country in the 11 weeks since President Obama was inaugurated, suggesting that he is enjoying some success in his critical task of rebuilding the nation's confidence."  Americans see their president as doing his job, taking charge, going in the right direction. The G20 Summit seemed to reinforce the perception of a leader who knows how to work with others and others seemed glad to work with him.  Together, G20 leaders seemed intent on "repairing" the global financial system, recovering global economic growth and restoring public confidence. Somebody is minding the store again. "Now the G20 has come of age," opined the Financial Times on April 4. Perhaps, slowly, a sense of global leadership is coming into being with America pulling its weight.

Washington