Lula and Obama Meet

Lula and Obama met this weekend in what was Obama's first meeting with a Latin American leader, demonstrating how Brazil has really emerged as a global power , which also indicates that the U.S. is going to have to (and seems willing to) deal with Brazil and Latin America in general on much more balanced (if not perfectly equal) footing than in the past. Publicly, the discussions were, as Boz says, no surprise - Doha, energy, the global economy. I am curious if/how the Venezuela talks played out privately - I suspect if there is anything, we'll only know more later. Overall, the meeting seemed to have went well, and just the overall demeanor and relationship between the two men already is just another reminder of what a radical change and galactic-sized improvement we are witnessing between Bush's administration and Obama's when it comes to foreign policy and representing the United States globally. It's really too early to say much about the consequences of the meeting, but it's definitely a good step, and will be interesting to watch Obama's, Lula's, and the rest of Latin America's actions leading up to the Summit of the Americas in April.