Herewith my short list of ten international issues more worthy of presidential attention than the issues that are getting it this week:
Drones: Apparently the President is preparing to address how and why he uses them soon.
Syria: Secretary of State Kerry and the Russians are ginning up a peace conference next month, while Moscow strengthens Syrian defenses against Western intervention.
Iraq: The Syrian war is spilling over and posing serious challenges to the country’s political cohesion.
Egypt: President Morsi is taking the Arab world’s most populous country in economically and politically ruinous directions.
Israel/Palestine: With the peace process moribund, the window is closing on the opportunity to reach a two-state outcome.
Libya: The failure to establish the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force leaves open the possibility of further attacks on Americans (and on the Libyan state).
Afghanistan: The American withdrawal is on schedule, but big questions remain about what will be left behind.
Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif’s hat trick provides an opportunity for improved relations, if managed well.
Iran: once its presidential election is over (first round is June 14, runoff if needed June 21), a last diplomatic effort on its nuclear ambitions will begin.
All that Asia stuff: North Korean nukes, maritime jostling with China, Trans-Pacific Partnership, transition in Myanmar (how about trying for one in Vietnam?), Japan’s economic and military revival…
In the good old days, presidents in domestic trouble headed out on international trips. Obama doesn’t seem inclined in that direction. He really does want to limit America’s commitments abroad and restore its economy at home. Bless him. But if things get much worse, I’ll bet on a road trip.