The Obama 'change' in American foreign policy emphasizes realism, engagement and negotiation; multilateralism, “smart power,” and collective, concerted attacks on global issues. While the new approach is apparent in the President’s exceptional rhetoric, it may embrace expectations for others that will prove unrealistic.  Nowhere is it being tested more severely than in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

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Whether presidential addresses in Cairo or Prague, or in the UN General Assembly, both the words and the symbolism are dramatic breaks with America's post-Cold War triumphalism. President Obama has elided characterizations of America as the “indispensible nation" and...