Is it possible that Obama’s winning quality was his willingness to be a good loser? The president’s main mission, after all, was to try to talk the French and Germans into supporting a serious global stimulus plan, and he failed. There were other accomplishments, sure. But even the tiniest seemed to have required a lot of pandering.

When Sarkozy said France would help with the administration’s plan to shut down the Guantánamo Bay prison by accepting one released prisoner  that would be one as in “less than two”  Obama gushed that it was hard to keep up with “the great leadership of President Sarkozy, courageous on so many fronts.”

To be fair, the French, the Germans and the other heel-dragging countries have some reason to be dubious about getting too close to Obama in anything but a photo op. The Europeans don’t really trust American presidents to deliver on what they say, particularly if it has to go through Congress.

While the G-20 was finishing its business, members of Congress were showing how they did theirs by passing a budget resolution. The spending plan was somewhat smaller than the president had requested. The Senate also added the Republican priority of reducing taxes on people who inherit estates of $7 million or more  a move that would increase the deficit while stimulating the economy approximately as much as eliminating a sales tax on square potato chips.

But even so, not a single Republican voted yes on the budget. In the House, the G.O.P. came up with an alternative that would cut more taxes for the wealthy while clamping down on nondefense spending. House Republicans think we invest way too much on these government programs and try to cut back on them every single year that their party is not actually in power.

In the Senate, Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire predicted that the budget plan “will absolutely put this country on an unsustainable path.” This would be the same Judd Gregg who agreed to join the Obama cabinet as commerce secretary before a last-minute discovery that the president is a Democrat.

Actually, it’s no contest when you think about it. The French aren’t even in the ballpark.