President Barack Obama vowed to show a different face to the world than George W. Bush — and it turns out to be a far less chummy one when it comes to personal diplomacy.
Obama’s demeanor on the international stage may be more appealing to Europeans and others irritated by Bush’s cowboy persona, but in terms of the one-on-one relationship building that can be a potent diplomatic lever for any president, the Democrat is practically an introvert compared with his world-class schmoozing predecessor.
That’s what made Obama’s dinner on Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an upscale Georgetown restaurant stand out.
More than two years into his term, Obama cuts the image of an all-business envoy, seldom going outside normal business hours to turn on the charm with other heads of state. He appears to have built few deep personal bonds with foreign leaders, and his forays into public diplomacy — a burger run last year with Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and a game of Ping-Pong last month with Britain’s David Cameron — are notable for their rarity.
Bush, by contrast, bonded with Britain’s Tony Blair at Camp David, took Japan’s Junichiro Koizumi on a tour of Graceland, strolled hand-in-hand with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah at the president’s Texas ranch, looked into the eyes of Russia’s Vladimir Putin during another ranch summit to “get a sense of his soul,” and visited the family hacienda of Mexico’s Vicente Fox to pay respects to his mother.
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