The New York Times interviews the Chancellor ahead of the G20 summit in London, and she makes it clear that she and her European counterparts are ready to move past the last eight years.
“Hopefully," she says, "he leaves Europe in the awareness that he has friends and partners here, that we depend on each other, that we Europeans certainly have our particular experiences and also bring other accents to bear, but that these are not insurmountable obstacles.”
As it turns out, Obama may be the one having to convince at least some Europeans that he knows what he's doing. Last week the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, in his capacity as the EU presidency, criticized Obama's economic recovery plan as "a road to hell," singling out his plan for massive deficit spending and the still-extant "Buy American" clause in the stimulus bill.
Then again, Mr. Topolanek's government just collapsed, so a few grains of salt might be in order.
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