What you wrote about Obama is actually correct. True, Obama came in with a set of foreign policy objectives that were not inline with standing US foreign polic

What you wrote about Obama is actually correct. True, Obama came in with a set of foreign policy objectives that were not inline with standing US foreign policy. So he lost that battle. He was very reluctant to involve the military, especially in the ME. So in Libya, for example, and even in Syria, he was accused of leading from behind. Even with respect to Russia, recall that he wanted to "reset" relations with that country, but that, too, was not in line with what the military guys, that is, the guys who actually run the country, wanted. So he lost that battle too.