Bruised both at home and abroad
Business Times - 18 Nov 2010 Bruised both at home and abroad President Barack Obama has his work cut out to devise a strategy that would deal with global economic challenges By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT US PRESIDENT Barack Obama returned this week to Washington from a 10-day trip to Asia, an excursion that involved several geo-strategic and geo-economic juggling acts. He set out to strengthen relations with India; hoped to conclude a free trade agreement with South Korea; stabilise the Sino-American balance of power by expanding security ties with allies; improve America's standing with Muslims during the visit in Indonesia; win support of other economic powers for the rebalancing of the global financial system. And framing the Asia tour - including participation in the G-20 meeting in Seoul and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Yokohama - has been an effort to win the support of an economically distressed and wary, if not hostile, American public. At...