Obama offers same old vision of division

Speaking at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday, US President Barack Obama gave what at least one person has called "the historic Brisbane speech". It was hardly that, but certainly it had one eye on history as it was clearly intended to be both part of the cement fixing Obama's place in history before he steps through the White House door for the last time, and a reassertion of the United States' leadership credentials after China's successful week in the spotlight hosting the Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Beijing.

Unlike his performance in the Chinese capital last week, during which he cultivated the image of being just one of the boys hanging out in the local neighborhood, Obama's speech in Brisbane was intended to tell the world that the US is still firmly in the driving seat, and to tell future historians that it was Obama who ensured the US was behind the wheel during the Asia-Pacific century, thanks to his "pivot" policy.

Obama claimed that he was in town to talk about "the future that we can build together, here in the Asia-Pacific region".