I found this tucked away inside a Reuters article entitled, "Obama's health win could boost foreign policy":
More than a dozen foreign leaders have congratulated Obama on the new healthcare law in letters and phone calls, a sign of how much attention the fight for his top domestic policy priority received in capitals around the world
(snip)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown were among the leaders who congratulated Obama, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the healthcare win would have a positive impact abroad, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Full article here: http://www.reuters.com/...
It's comforting to know the rest of the planet is on our side. It makes the rethugs' repeal drive look all the more foolish. The rest of the article is well worth the read, as it describes ways in which the HCR win will help foster US foreign policy successes. Here's another excerpt:
Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the Democratic president's persistence in the long healthcare battle added credibility to his rhetoric on climate change, nuclear nonproliferation and other foreign policy goals.
"It sends a very important message about President Obama as a leader," Rhodes told Reuters during an interview in his West Wing office.
"The criticism has been: (He) sets big goals but doesn't close the deal. So, there's no more affirmative answer to that criticism than closing the biggest deal you have going."
Obama closed another deal, this one in foreign policy, on Friday, agreeing on a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the two leaders will sign on April 8 in Prague.
So the HCR win may have helped spur the Russian/US arms reduction deal! I can't wait to see what other planet-healing initiatives ensue. Cheers.
UPDATE 1: From the comments, blackwaterdog cites a concurring article in The Independant (UK):
First Obama secured his historic healthcare reforms. Then he laid down the law to Israel. Now – a landmark nuclear disarmament deal...
....Russia and the US will sign their most comprehensive nuclear arms control agreement of the post-Cold War era in Prague next month, slashing their strategic warheads by a third, and making substantial cuts in missiles and other long-range delivery systems.
The deal announced yesterday by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev breaks years of deadlock but it is at least as important in diplomatic and political terms as in its purely military aspects. For Mr Obama, the new treaty is a foreign policy achievement to match his huge domestic victory this week in pushing through historic healthcare legislation – and one that goes a long way to fulfil his administration's pledge to "re-set" relations with its former superpower rival...
......this week's victory in the domestic power struggle over health has indirectly given a huge boost to Mr Obama's international stature with implications for some of the most intractable international problems. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at an impasse but on Tuesday the President demonstrated a new uncompromising approach with Benjamin Netanyahu using the Israeli leader's visit to Washington to turn up the pressure over Jewish settlements in occupied territory.
full article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/...
UPDATE 2: An excellent point made in the comments by moonpal:
Its funny how the MSM and the right-wingers only mention Fidel Castro's congrats but fail to tell people about the others. I guess that would ruin the image of him being a socialist dictator to have Britain, Germany, South Korea, and Canada see this as a positive for the US.