Obama has come to a number of dovetailing conclusions about the world, and about America’s role in it.
The first is that the Middle East is no longer terribly important to American interests.
I like this. And I think he's right.
The second is that even if the Middle East were surpassingly important, there would still be little an American president could do to make it a better place.
The third is that the innate American desire to fix the sorts of problems that manifest themselves most drastically in the Middle East inevitably leads to warfare, to the deaths of U.S. soldiers, and to the eventual hemorrhaging of U.S. credibility and power.
The fourth is that the world cannot afford to see the diminishment of U.S. power.
Ergo: avoid the Middle East shit puddle.
