it has been vintage obama on the president<u+2019>s final overseas trip this week. speaking in greece, he announced that the process of globalization needs a <u+201c>course correction<u+201d> because the benefits aren<u+2019>t being spread broadly. well, maybe, but this is a little much to hear from the man who has been nominally the leader of the globalizing world<u+2019>s course for eight years. the president spent his years stressing income redistribution over economic growth, and the result has been less growth and more inequality. that<u+2019>s a major reason for the west<u+2019>s political anxiety over foreign trade and immigration. those anxieties were muted in the booming 1980s and 1990s. from greece it was onto germany and a meeting with chancellor angela merkel, where mr. obama next lectured president-elect donald trump on making deals with vladimir putin out of convenience, <u+201c>even if it violates international norms, or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable or creates long-term problems in regions like syria.<u+201d> he added that if chancellor merkel chooses re-election next year, <u+201c>she will have big burdens. i wish i could be there to lighten her load.<u+201d> mrs. merkel<u+2019>s load is an overwhelming flow of refugees into germany out of syria and mr. putin<u+2019>s aggressions to her east. both problems resulted in large part from mr. obama<u+2019>s reluctance to support the syrian opposition until it was too late and reluctance to send ukraine military support as mr. putin<u+2019>s armed surrogates invaded. what chancellor merkel and europe need most is a u.s. president more willing to lead the west than talk about it.
barack and angela say farewell - wsj
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