The US has better relations with almost every nation on the planet thanks to President Barack Obama's foreign policy "outreach," his spokesman said on Sunday. The claim came in an interview in which White House spokesman Robert Gibbs fiercely defended Obama against accusations that he has failed to reform US foreign policy from the damaging era of his predecessor George W Bush.
"We have better relationships with virtually every country in the world as a result of the president's foreign policy outreach," Gibbs hit back. "There's no doubt that we have taken foreign policy in a different direction," he added.
NBC interviewer David Gregory listed the failure to close Guantanamo, the Afghan war escalation, an expected U-turn on plans to give chief 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a civilian trial, and the same old sanctions strategy on Iran and North Korea, as examples of Obama's stalled foreign policy reforms.
Gibbs said this was "oversimplified" logic, particularly when you considered how Obama managed to win backing from Russia and China for tougher sanctions against Iran.
"He said to the world I'm happy to discuss Iran with Iran if it will come to the table and live up to its obligations, " he said.