it is ironic that Obama is charged with trying to rule the world when it has been quite clear that his policy objectives are predominantly domestic. I was amused to read in Le Monde that after all the moral support he garnered from Europe many of those supporters are now feeling 'left in the cold.' i think that rather than being a standard bearer for the far left, at least internationally, he is still coming to terms with his domestic role. the fact that he has repeatedly refused to be drawn into the Iranian crisis either on the nuclear proliferation or the Green Revolution would suggest that he has more than enough foriegn policy issues on his plate and does not want to add more.