Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 05/2009

Challenges for the next U.S. president: Hopes and Realities

Gerald LeMelle

January 2009

Africa Policy Information Center

Abstract

President Barack Obama faces the enormous challenge of reestablishing the United States' standing around the world. The global outpouring of joy over Obama's victory serves as testament to George W. Bush's hugely unpopular foreign policy. By the time the Bush administration started to adjust its highly ideological "cowboy in the saddle" approach to international relations, the damage had already been done.