Obama and the (Mis)management of Imperial Decline

By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, from www.GoingToTehran.com

When Barack Obama first ran for the presidency, his most important foreign policy campaign promise was to end not just the Iraq War, but also the “mindset” that had gotten the United States into that strategic travesty. His first inaugural emphasized the idea that America would exercise real leadership by resurrecting diplomacy and “engagement” as essential elements of American strategy. Leaders and publics in Tehran, Moscow, Beijing, and many other places around the world were eager for him to deliver.