Obama’s First Steps: What Comes After the ‘Listening Phase’?

President Barack Obama entered office with such an inflated cloud of expectations hanging over his head that it is not surprising that some are criticizing him now for his "failures." After a mere 100 or so days in office, why hasn't he solved the global financial crisis, reversed global warming and brought peace to the Middle East?

On the other hand, some of his partisans are wont to claim major foreign policy successes for the new administration because of the president's personal popularity and the tumultuous acclaim he has received during his overseas visits. Yet during his first few months in office, both Iran and North Korea have moved ahead with their nuclear programs, a major supply base for the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan has been lost, and America's European allies have neither increased the number of combat troops they are willing to send to Afghanistan nor embraced the president's efforts to cope with the global financial crisis.

It is helpful, of course, that the president himself has an appreciation of the challenges that he faces. At the recent Summit of the Americas, he noted: