OBAMA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Concerns about Obama's Middle East policy are escalating.  The optimistic support for democracy in Arab Spring of 2011 has proved to be an illusion (except to the critics of US policy toward that movement, some of whom see Obama as Bush II).  Adam Garfinkle details what seems to be a lack of careful, long-term strategic thinking among our current Middle East policymakers.  I like the idea of serious "looking before leaping."  Surely something should have been learned from Iraq and Afghanistan.