Obama's can't-do style

Early assessments have focused on specific policy details and missteps not unusual for a new president, but an underlying explanation may have to do with President Obama’s unique operational style.

First, there is Obama’s remarkable solipsism, i.e., his penchant for projecting himself as the personification of U.S. policy. Personal attraction can be a useful political and diplomatic tool, and polls in Europe and to a lesser extent in Asia and the Mideast confirm that foreigners strongly prefer him to his predecessor. Nonetheless, the emphasis on the president’s own persona is quickly wearing thin…

Second, Obama overestimates the extent to which America’s adversaries determine their policies in reaction to U.S. rhetoric and policy rather than as expressions of their own values, history and interests. Emphasis on interdependence, good intentions and the belief that “the interests of nations and peoples are shared” does not go very far in explaining the motivations of Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bashar Assad or Hugo Chavez. The message conveyed is that if only he could assure adversaries or allies that he — and thus America — means well, threats or problems could be mitigated or overcome altogether.