For Obama, a glimpse of good old days in Europe

WASHINGTON - For President Barack Obama, it was a brief glimpse of his 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.

"I did not get any resistance or pushback," Obama declared as he closed a three-day trip.

But Air Force One sped Obama back to a far different landscape in Washington, where he returned late Friday. He 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. A few days in the warm embrace of European allies was unlikely to dramatically shift that dynamic.

The criticism of Obama's foreign policy has thrust the White House into a defensive posture and sent the president's approval ratings on international matters tumbling. In Europe, too, Obama has grappled with allies who have both quibbled with his perceived lack of focus on the continent and resisted his calls for more aggressive action against Russia and in the Middle East.

But with both crises escalating, Europe appeared willing - and at times even eager - to stand squarely with a weakened American president.

During meetings in Estonia, Baltic leaders heaped praise on Obama, making clear their desire to have a beefed up U.S. military presence in their country as they warily watch Russia's provocations in Ukraine. The president gave them most of what they wanted, agreeing to a NATO plan for a rapid response force that would be headquartered in Eastern Europe.

"We are grateful to the United States and to you personally for your leadership, your commitment, and your support to Estonia," Estonian President Toomas Hendrick Ilves said Wednesday during Obama's 11-hour stop in the capital of Tallinn.

In Wales, it was Obama, along with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who dictated much of the discussion during the two-day NATO meeting. The American and British leaders set the tone for the summit with a joint editorial released Thursday that urged their allies to put aside an "isolationist approach" and join a coalition to degrade extremists in the Middle East.

The support appeared to buoy the president. There was a notable difference between his demeanor during his news conference in Wales on Friday and his appearance before reporters at the White House a week earlier, when he conceded that he did not yet have a strategy for going after the Islamic State in Syria.

That one line set off a fresh torrent of criticism in Washington. Yet after his meetings in Europe, Obama confidently embraced what he called a "systematic and methodical" approach to tackling the militant threat.

"That deliberation allows us to do it right," he said.

While Obama's reception in Europe was warm, it hardly mirrored the heady days of his first presidential campaign and early months in the White House when many European leaders and their publics were enamored with the new American leader. And the president still returned to Washington with only murky answers to the questions that dogged him when he arrived in Europe.

For example, while there was widespread support for Obama's call to take on the Islamic State threat, the alliance made no pledges to take direct action to help with that effort. And while individual nations, including France, Australia and Canada, appeared willing to join a coalition to go after the militants, it remained unclear what they were specifically willing to do.

On Russia, European leaders firmed up plans to levy new sanctions on Moscow and appeared in agreement with the U.S. that the penalties should be levied regardless of whether a cease-fire agreed to Friday holds. But if that fragile truce breaks, there was no indication that the West was ready to take punitive actions against Russia beyond sanctions.

Heather Conley, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Obama's trip showed that American leadership is "still very much in demand in Europe." But she said it will be the follow-up that determines whether Obama can keep up the momentum he built during his trip.

"It takes sustained policy focus and sustained leadership after the summit," she said. "This is where the Obama administration has typically fallen short."

Once his official duties wrapped up, Obama decided to stick around Europe for a few extra hours. He made a surprise visit to Stonehenge, the ancient monument in the British countryside.

Obama was visibly gleeful as he strolled through the towering stone structures, a world wonder that he said was one of his must-see spots.

"Crossing it off my bucket list," he said with a smile.