WASHINGTON (AP) – For President Barack Obama, it’s been a brief glimpse of the good old days in Europe.
On the continent that cheered his ascent to the White House, Obama was enthusiastically welcomed in Estonia by Baltic leaders who see American military power as the best safeguard of their own security. And at the NATO summit in Wales, Obama gathered numerous statements of support for his call to confront Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
But Air Force One has taken Obama back to a far different landscape in Washington, where he returned late Friday.
Obama has faced harsh criticism not only from Republicans, but also some Democrats, for being overly cautious in his response to the Islamic State militant threat and Russia’s provocations in Ukraine.