President Barack Obama: America has been 'arrogant and dismissive' towards Europe

President Barack Obama has declared that America has "failed to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world" and has "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" towards its allies.

By Toby Harnden in Strasbourg
Last Updated: 7:09PM BST 03 Apr 2009

His speech in Strasbourg went further than any United States president in history in criticising his own country's action while standing on foreign soil. But he sought to use the comments, which amount to a mea culpa for recent American foreign policy, as leverage to alter European views of America and secure more troops for the war in Afghanistan

He declared that there had to be a fundamental shift on both sides of the Atlantic. "America is changing but it cannot be America alone that changes."

Barack Obama must preserve the special relationship
Addressing a crowd of some 2,000 mainly students from France and Germany, Mr Obama said: "In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. "Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

He then balanced this striking admission with a tough message to Europeans that blaming America and using its actions as an excuse to avoid tackling the global Islamist threat was unacceptable.

"But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognising the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad."

In a speech which his aides billed as a commitment to rebuild transatlantic relations by offering an olive branch directly to young Europeans, he offered himself as the figure who could bridge the gap that had grown over the eight years of President George W. Bush's administration.

"On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common," he said. "They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated.

"They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America."

During questions, Mr Obama, who was applauded frequently and had to choose between scores of young students clamouring to catch his eye, asked Americans to let French and Germans address him. "Do me a favour Americans," he said. "Wait till we get back home and I'll do a town hall there."

Although a central message was that he represented a clean break from his predecessor, Mr Obama – in a rare use of his Muslim middle name - emphasised that some of the problems Mr Bush had faced would not miraculously disappear.

"I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I am president and George Bush is not president, al-Qaeda is still a threat and that we cannot pretend somehow that because Barack Hussein Obama got elected as president, suddenly everything's going to be OK," he said.

"It is going to be a very difficult challenge. Al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity. It is - you know, don't fool yourselves because some people say, 'Well, you know, if we changed our policies with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or if we were more respectful to the Muslim world, suddenly these organisations would stop threatening us.' That's just not the case."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5...