President Obama is a busy man. What with having to persuade the United Nations Security Council to pass the latest and toothless sanctions on Iran, excoriating oil companies for the Gulf Oil spill, pushing a financial reform bill through congress, and attacking the state of Arizona for enacting a law to stem the tide of illegal immigrants, something his administration refuses to do, you would think he has no time to take on the troubles of euroland.
But he found time to call Spain’s president, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to urge him to get his financial house in order. There is no indication that Zapatero told the president to do the same -- one doesn’t bite the hand of someone about to feed him. Spain’s president and his EU colleagues needed at least two favors from the American president, and they need them now. The first was for Obama to resist congressional demands that he prevent the International Monetary Fund from contributing U.S. dollars to the EU bailout of Greece and other members of Club Med: a measure moving in that direction passed the Senate on a 94-0 vote. Obama has obliged -- so far.
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