Obama, Bush’s Hangman

Obama’s foreign policy is beginning to look more and more like his predecessor’s. Two years after Obama’s inauguration, even an invasion of Iran appears possible.

Obama’s war is now being fought between Key West, Fla. and Point Barrow, Alaska. The U.S. president is fighting for the hearts and minds of 200 million voters, and, at present, the prognosis isn’t looking too good. The Democrats won the White House, but they’re in danger of losing the hinterlands to the Republicans.

With their fears focused on losing their homes and their belongings, what happens beyond America’s borders doesn’t interest Americans very much these days. And the outside world doesn’t seem to interest Obama as much as his own backyard, either. The president wants to rebuild his own society — not bring in a new world order. Two years after his inauguration, his administration isn’t so much about foreign policy change as it is about continuity. The times are a throwback to George W. Bush. After a series of reality shocks, Obama now stands where Bush did: the same global problems, the same crises and the same old answers. The White House is practicing realpolitik, just without the collateral damage George W. Bush caused. So it’s entirely possible that the great conciliator, Barack Obama, will be the one to invade Iran.