Obama on foreign policy - now comes the true test

Obama on foreign policy - now comes the true test

What a week it has been my friends. For all those who said that change wouldn't come, I point to this historic week. A week where we've seen our nation move past racial barriers most thought were unbreakable. A week where progress in our country began moving forward once again after eight long years of resistance. A week where the majority of Americans, for the first time in a long time, approve of the direction their country is headed in.

But we have to be realistic. We have all sorts of challenges facing our country, both internally and abroad. A skyrocketing national debt, two wars on a completely different continent, the worst business market our country has seen in decades, a global-wide recession - just to name a few.

I don't know about you guys, but to me this week really did seem like a grace period for President Obama. Not even by the actions of our new president - this administration has hit the ground running at full speed and I for one couldn't be more pleased. I guess it seemed like a grace period because behind all of the doom-and-gloom market reports and reports of mounting job losses there was a small word that was beginning to become more and more clear:

Hope.

Hope that together we will overcome the obstacles facing us. Hope that the comfort of peace will aid us in this time of struggle. Hope that our government will be aware of the problems affecting us and try to solve them, instead of just blatantly ignoring them.

This week has certainly brought us many historic things. Even Israel and Gaza were able to come to a ceasefire. But of course, not all good things can last, and President Obama, your grace period here is over.

Palestinian militants detonated a bomb next to an Israeli army patrol along the southern border with Gaza on Tuesday. One Israeli solder was killed in the blast, and the already fragile cease-fire died in that blast too.

The fighting came on the eve of a visit to the region by President Obama's newly appointed U.S. Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, and symbolically displayed the difficulty President Obama faces as he attempts to get Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts back on track.

Mitchell will arrive in Israel on Wednesday, under strict orders from President Obama to listen extensively to both sides first before offering solutions.

President Obama I'm not expecting you to solve the situation in Israel/Gaza. No president should carry that expectation.

That being said, I do hope that you can.

-Travis Erickson
News Today