 | | Obama got the chance to rub shoulders with some of the world's most powerful leaders [AFP] |
Barack Obama, the US president, maintained on Thursday that the US is still a critical actor on the world stage."I do not buy into the notion that America cannot lead, but with the world as complex as it is, it's important for us to form partnerships and not dictate," he said, following his meeting with world leaders. But many here at the G20 believe the US, while still the world's pre-eminent economic power, has experienced a downgrade. That's not only because Wall Street played with matches and set the global economic house on fire. The turbocharged, risk-addicted and consumer-centric model of US capitalism is broken for good. Obama acknowledged as much when he said that "we must put an end to bubble bust cycle that endangers prosperity". But the US role in the global economic meltdown had left resentment in some quarters at the G20 towards Washington. And while there was support from Obama and Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, for better global financial regulation, there was a feeling from the two leaders that it could be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. | 
