Obama will leave his successor more Middle East disasters than he inherited

So much for that Nobel Peace Prize...

A U.S. Marine in southern Afghanistan in 2011.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)

Before he won the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama won the peacenik vote. When he ran for president in 2008, he was the one aiming to "turn the page" on America's failed foreign policy. He criticized the Iraq War as a distraction from the real business in Afghanistan. And yet, Obama is going to hand his successor more foreign policy disasters than he inherited.

That's not stopping Obama from advertising his foreign policy legacy. He has defended his administration's supposed philosophy of "Don't do stupid sh--." Who could disagree with "Don't do stupid sh--"?

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.