The real problem is not America itself, the forces of Geo-Politics are just too damn BIG and beyond the control of the actors i.e. the Nations and the diplomatic core.<p>Its absolutely Naive thinking that a President is going to wipe out and start new, Obama was right, no body starts with a Clean Slate. You are dealt a hand, you deal with it.
Now, you can define and refine the approach, but the events themselves hardly controllable.