WASHINGTON (AP) — Just days after an exhausting and sometimes disappointing trip to Asia, President Barack Obama is dashing to Europe to assure America’s trans-Atlantic allies that he is not neglecting them.
Obama’s two days in Lisbon, Portugal, will be framed by back-to-back summits: one with NATO and then a U.S.-European Union gathering.
But it’s Obama’s agenda — from the future of the Afghanistan war to disputes over currency and trade — that will be in the international spotlight at a time when he’s been weakened at home by his party’s defeats in the midterm elections.
Europe watchers say Obama must use his time with the continent’s leaders to assure them that his commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance remains strong.
