President Barack Obama is too strong a leader to be deterred
by his party's setbacks in the U.S. midterm election, Germany's foreign
minister said Wednesday, but there was some concern that Democratic losses in
Congress could affect Obama's nuclear disarmament plans.
"One would massively underestimate the president of the
United States if one wanted to think that he would be weakened in foreign policy,"
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told ZDF television, noting that the
U.S. campaign was driven by "domestic and economic issues."
"America is a strong country; the American president is
a very strong and decisive president," he added.
Obama's Democrats held onto the Senate in the vote Tuesday
but gave up their majority in the lower house to Republicans, which could make
it harder to pass new legislation.
Westerwelle called on new members of Congress to support
Obama's nuclear disarmament bid.
"We cannot fall back on the issue of disarmament,"
Westerwelle said. "I call on those newly elected to support the president's
initiative on this."
Roman Joch, head of a conservative think tank in the Czech
Republic, said New Strategic Arms Control Treaty signed by Obama and Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev in April - "one of the biggest successes of
Obama's foreign policy - is facing problems."
"It is now possible that the treaty won't be
ratified," Joch said.
The treaty would lower limits on the two countries' nuclear
arsenals. However, there is concern among some Republicans that the United
States can't verify whether Russia is sticking to the treaty.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez was among those
betting on Obama's strengths rather than the Democrats' stinging losses.
"It happened with President Clinton and I'm convinced
that with that political capability he (Obama) has always shown, he will be
able push through all the projects he feels are necessary and opportune for the
U.S. public," she said.
Some analysts said the election results are more likely to
change U.S. domestic policy than foreign policy.
"America is a democracy and policies do not revolve
around one person in the United States. Therefore, I do not expect any change in
the U.S. foreign policy," said Ishtiaq Ahmad, a professor of international
relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Will the delicate Middle East peace process be a victim of
the midterms?
Zalman Shoval, a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., thinks not.
"Foreign policy is the prerogative of the president, even if he is
weak," said Shoval.
At least one African country, Sierre Leone, praised the
vote.
Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, the West African nation's information
minister, said it was good to see a country in which "elections are
conducted swiftly and results announced without any controversy."
He added, however, "that the African-American
population should have provided more support for the Democratic Party."
And in Indonesia, where Obama spent part of his childhood,
some still hoped that Obama's experience in their country would help bridge
ties between the West and the Muslim world.
"It will be harder for him, yes," said Sonni Gondokusumo,
a former playmate of Obama's. "But he's not going to give up. He's going
to keep struggling, because this isn't just what's best for the world but for
Americans. He still has two years to prove himself."
---
Associated Press reporters Tini Tran in Beijing, Geir
Moulson in Berlin, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown,
Sierra Leone, Ali Kotarumalos and Irwan Firdaus in Jakata, Indonesia; Katharine
Houreld and Kathy Gannon in Kabul, Afghanistan; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Karel
Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.
