Time to get tough

While still a senator running for president, Barack Obama gave a speech in Berlin that saw a turnout of about 200,000 people. As president, Obama has always made sure his visits abroad include direct contact with the people.

But now Obama is turning his focus more toward heads of state.

The shift could be important. Obama has been warmly received by crowds all across the world, but he hasn’t made much progress on most major issues.

Obama’s recent meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai became necessary because little has been done about corruption in the country.

Iran has continued to ignore with impunity deadlines regarding its nuclear program. Israel has ignored Obama’s demands on the issue of settlements, and most European allies have been reluctant to offer more troops for Afghanistan.

As Obama tries to forge more personal relationships with other heads of state, he needs to get tougher about getting them to own up to their responsibilities.

Afghanistan is a good example of how some countries have embraced Obama but ignored his requests.

Obama made getting more NATO troops for Afghanistan a big part of his first European tour, but it now seems likely that as American troop strength increases by 30,000, Europe won’t end up shouldering much more of a burden.

Some 7,000 more troops have been promised for Afghanistan, but many of these are coming from non-NATO members such as Australia and South Korea as well as countries that aspire to join the bloc such as Georgia and Ukraine. Most of the new troops from NATO members come from Britain, Poland and Italy.

Neither France nor Germany has agreed to send more troops, and Canada and the Netherlands are planning to withdraw theirs.

On the issue of Israel, Obama hasn’t been willing to push very hard and has had no leverage when it comes to fighting off additional settlements in East Jerusalem — an issue that is hardly responsible for the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians but one that will certainly make it worse.

Obama has changed perceptions of the United States, mostly for the better, but does not have much to show for it.

He needs to get tougher because we need results soon.