Balkenende visit to White House an exercise in humility

Dutch prime minister Balkenende visited US president Obama on Tuesday to talk about the upcoming G20 meeting, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Balkenende did not rule out taking in detainees.

Waiting to enter the Oval Office on Tuesday, a reporter from NBC enquired about the spelling of the Dutch prime minister's name. Helped by a public television reporter from the Netherlands, he tried to type it into his Blackberry, but missed a couple of letters. Balkend? Balkende? A reporter from another TV station came to the rescue to spell it one more time: Balken-ENde.

The incident illustrated the balance between the leaders of the Netherlands and the United States. Sitting next to each other talking to reporters in the Oval Office, Barack Obama looked composed and courteous, while Jan Peter Balkenende was perspiring and red in the face.

Still, the US president praised his Dutch visitor. He spoke highly of the so-called 'Dutch approach' or '3D' strategy in Afghanistan. When Obama had trouble remembering what the third D stood for - development, diplomacy and defence - he turned that around into a compliment, saying that the new US approach "really was adopted from some strategies that had already been pursued effectively by the Netherlands."

Shared values

Next he "extended" his "personal invitation" to Balkenende to attend the next G20 meeting in Pittsburgh in September. Dutch diplomats present at the meeting had not expected that, they said. The Netherlands is not one of the 20 major industrialised countries, but it was nevertheless invited to the last two G20 meetings.

Obama also expressed the hope that European countries would be willing to cooperate in closing down the Guantánamo Bay prison. The Netherlands had often pressed president George W, Bush on the issue of Guantánamo, but since Obama announced the prison's closure in January The Hague has refused all American requests to take in detainees.

Balkenende in his statement seized the opportunity to identify with the new world leader. Like all his predecessors, he talked about how the Dutch-American "share the same values". He also expressed his admiration for "the message of hope" the president sends out and his "power and authority to change things".

There was time for two questions during the so-called 'press moment' in the White House. The American called on was a reporter from The Hill, a free congressional paper, who did not care much about common Dutch-American values, and instead asked Obama about alarming predictions about unemployment in the US. Knowing that he was now addressing his home constituency again, Obama went into the subject at length.

On foot from the White House

The one Dutch question was about Afghanistan and the end of the Dutch deployment there next year. Obama said he hoped for a continued presence after the summer of 2010, but - with an empathy absent in the Bush years - said he "recognised that participation in the coalition in Afghanistan can be controversial".

After the meeting, Balkenende, to the dismay of the Secret Service, broke protocol and nonchalantly decided to leave the White House on foot. Looking his normal colour again, Balkenende patiently answered more questions from Dutch reporters, explaining how wonderful the conversation with Obama had been and how good the relationship with the US still is.

When asked about Guantánamo, Balkenende said there is a chance the Netherlands may cooperate if the US cannot close the prison camp without Dutch support. "But Obama knows how sensitive this issue is in the Netherlands."