Obama's Hamster Wheel

Stephen Walt on the speculation as to who's leaving and who's staying on the Obama foreign-policy team - and how little it matters:

By now, it is crashingly obvious that Obama is a very conventional foreign policy president, that whatever novel ideas or approaches he brought to office have been thoroughly diluted by entrenched interests in Washington, and his own governing style militates against taking bold positions and sticking with them in the face of opposition.   Just look at how he caved on Gitmo, indefinite detention, drone strikes/targeted killings, or Israeli settlements.   One gets the impression that the administration is already suffering from battle-fatigue, and that there won't be many (any?) shiny new initiatives even if he wins a second term. 

Indeed.  Kinda like the wheel in a hamster cage.  Whichever of the little critters gets on to run, thinking "yes I can" -- still going nowhere.