Mr Obama did not attack Syria after all, although it had crossed the "red line" he had drawn in a statement the previous year. (Curiously, there was no tweet from Mr Trump praising Mr Obama and taking credit for his change of mind.) This was the moment when Mr Obama broke decisively with the foreign policy orthodoxy in Washington, and the think-tank "experts" and the reigning media pundits never forgave him for it. Fast forward to 2016, and Mr Obama must have been torn when he contemplated his successors. Mr Trump doesn't give a fig for the playbook, but he does care about popularity.

Source: Bangkok Post May 02, 2017 21:45 UTC