The article by Jeffrey Goldberg is very judicious, neither endorsing nor condemning Obama’s actions on the Middle East. A political actor is foolish if he keeps asking how history will judge him: Unless one means God at the end of history, the question is meaningless—history is not a person making a moral judgment; the persons who will do so sometime in the presently unknowable future are either victorious or aggrieved survivors.

The contributors to this symposium are in neither category. We can only say two things with some assurance: 1) The moral question is different, depending on whether it is being discussed in Switzerland or in what is still the most powerful nation on earth. 2) Reasonable people may differ on Obama’s “redline” in Syria, but a great power cannot retain credibility if it first speaks like Churchill then acts like Chamberlain.

I find it difficult to sympathize with Obama’s dilemmas of power, given the aura of hubris that envelops him. I would rather reserve my sympathy for Samantha Power, who looks more unhappy every time I catch a glimpse of her on television. I wonder if she has read Machiavelli about the prince who is willing to risk the eternal destiny of his soul for the good of the city.