WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's political fortunes suffered a devastating blow at the election polls Nov. 2. Since then, whether on domestic policy or in the international arena, nations as well as American politicians have raised their price for cooperating with him.
Despite a number of key successes — on health care policy, nuclear summitry and agreements on weapons of mass destruction, and the Group of 20's transition to a relatively hard global economic coordinating body — the world still doubts the ability of the United States and its young president to deliver on their objectives and promises. The Republican red tide that just swept in has made that doubt in the Obama White House even greater.
This doubt is eroding global stability and undermining the trust that allies have in American leadership and increasing the appetite of U.S. foes like North Korea and Iran to shake constraints on them and move the boundaries on their action beyond where they have been.