While this may seem odd at first blush, the best historical analogy I can draw to Obama and his foreign policy involves Elizabeth I of England. While popular history has treated her reign kindly, the fact is that she was viewed as a ditherer by many of her contemporaries because she consistently resisted efforts to push her into expensive and inconclusive ideological wars, and she preferred the use of proxies, subsidies, and unconventional forces (i.e., Francis Drake) to direct confrontations. Based on the outcome of England’s military adventures in the century prior to her reign, she had plenty of reason to do so.
Consider the following;
Elizabeth v. Obama
Political Obstacle Mother Beheaded African-American
Aspired to Throne Mary Queen of Scots Mitt Romney
Foreign Adversary Philip II Putin
Terrorist Problem Babington Plot ISIS
Religious Opponent Catholics Radical Islam
War Lessons Learned France/Scotland Iraq
Unconventional War Privateers Drones
Agitated for War Walsingham/Leicester Graham/McCain
Left Office Died Term Limits
And the winner is. . . Ask me in a few years.