Quite a spot-on assessment from Peter Baker in the New York Times. Baker has recognized that while countries have paid lip service to Obama’s brand of HopeNChange, it’s translated into very little action on their parts.

But eight months after his inauguration, all that good will so far has translated into limited tangible policy benefits for Mr. Obama. As much as they may prefer to deal with Mr. Obama instead of his predecessor, George W. Bush, foreign leaders have not gone out of their way to give him what he has sought.

European allies still refuse to send significantly more troops to Afghanistan. The Saudis blew off Mr. Obama’s request for concessions to Israel, while Israel rebuffed his demand to stop settlement expansion. North Korea defied him by testing a nuclear weapon. Japan just elected a party less friendly to the United States. Cuba has done little to liberalize in response to modest relaxation of sanctions. India and China are resisting a climate change deal. And Russia rejected new sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program even as Mr. Obama heads into talks with Tehran.

For an administration whose officials regularly boast of having what they call ‘the best brand in the world,’ there is growing “frustration with what other countries are prepared to contribute to advancing supposedly common interests,” said Stephen Sestanovich, a former Clinton administration ambassador with ties to the current team. Personal relations are important, he said, but national interests still dominate. “That’s what American presidents generally discover.”

And now the Obama Administration is abandoning our missile defense shield in Europe and talking about unilaterally scaling down our nuclear stockpile — all in the hope that Russia will permit more sanctions against Iran that are destined to fail.

Barack Obama isn’t just turning himself into a doormat, but the entire country into one. His legacy will be similar to that of Jimmy Carter’s: Weak on the international stage and big government ideologue at home.