Of course Obama would have been successful. For one thing, when he required the Europeans to increase their NATO contributions he did it quietly, without publi

Of course Obama would have been successful. For one thing, when he required the Europeans to increase their NATO contributions he did it quietly, without publicly insulting them, and got them to commit to increase it over a period of a decade, which is reasonable. Unlike stand he never threatened America’s commitment to NATO itself. For another, his first major international economic action wasn’t dropping steel tariffs on his Europeans allies. And finally, he worked with his European allies to build an effective deal with Iran, that gave Europeans something they wanted and reduced the threat of additional war in the Middle East, whole building an effective counter balance to the Saudis, instead of flippantly and unilaterally tearing it apart causing European allies unnecessary political, military, and economic headaches.