I have to say, for all the flak Obama has taken throughout his presidency about not being tough enough, or about not playing enough hardball in the Washington political world, he gets a lot of things done. Health Care reform? The one that nobody could get through for decades? Through. Copenhagen Summit Agreement? Brokered. BP escrow account? Created. And now he is writing letters to China about their yuan currency and what he thinks should be done about it. He may walk softly and rely on diplomacy more than our previous president did, but there is no denying that he gets results on the things that he puts his mind and energy toward.

And now President Barack Obama is turning at least some of that energy and focus toward asking China that their currency adhere to market-determined exchange rates. And he did it right after China asked the world not to criticize their currency policy. With a summit coming up next week, Obama has set the stage for a true showdown over how they value the yuan, and a face-off over the world’s financial state. Obama wrote a letter to G20 partners to increase efforts for financial reform. He couched the call in an overall policy that countries should look at the “medium-term” for their budgets and financial issues, not sacrificing economic recovery for taking care of their budget problems. He may be a Democrat, but he’s pushing a capitalistic outlook on the financial and economic state of the world, for sure.

The letter puts Obama and the White House out on a bit of a limb in international financial policy. He wants China to focus on creating domestic demand rather than increasing exports, and he wants them to let the yuan rise more quickly than they have. He also wants Europe to be patient in “clamping down on public spending” at the expense of the rest of their economy trucking along healthily.

"The signals that flexible exchange rates send are necessary to support a strong and balanced global economy. Market-determined exchange rates are essential to global economic vitality," said Obama in the letter.

Europe hasn’t replied much, but China is adamant in their calls for the rest of the world to essentially leave them alone and not “meddle” with the way that they manage the yuan. They are not putting out any vibes that say that they will be considering a change, let alone actually making any changes.

Obama is taking on the world’s problems. We need to fix the way the current world economy is working, and he is putting his plan out there for how it can and should work. He made the statement and position very clear:

"We must act together to strengthen the recovery. We need to commit to restore sustainable public finances in the medium term. And we should complete the work of financial repair and reform."

Will the G20 come together and deal with this issue in a way that the U.N. could not deal with the climate change pact? That remains to be seen, but Obama has clearly taken more leadership in making it happen than he did in Copenhagen.

Photo Credit: tsevis