Center Stage

Remember the beginning of the year when nothing was happening? Well, in three short months the world's turned upside-down. Revolutions, earthquakes, and bombs erupt so fast that they push each other off the front page. And while most of these upheavals are happening abroad, their long-term impacts won't remain so. As Thomas Friedman described yesterday in The New York Times, the resulting pattern of higher oil prices and climate disruptions leading to higher food prices and to greater instability will continue to loop back on itself in the absence of strong American leadership.

Enter Barack Obama, a leader whose erratic pattern loops back on itself as well. We've seen in his first two years a tendency to retreat--an inability or unwillingness to exercise his might. Friedman cites, for example, the President's lack of leadership specifically on climate and fiscal policy. Time and again the President defers to our inept Congress when his own words would carry more weight.

We've heard from President Obama on Libya, and he spoke out--finally and forcefully--on behalf of the Egyptian revolution. He needs to continue this pattern of staying on the front page. As the world feels like it's spinning out of control, the American President can't recede into the background.

We can't afford this, and--as Friedman makes clear--neither can the world.