President Obama told international reporters on Monday that he knows his foreign policy might not be “sexy,” but he’s playing a small-ball game.

“You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run,” Obama said during a Manila news conference on the last day of his Asia trip, according to The Hill. “But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world.”

“And that may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn’t make for good argument on Sunday morning shows. But it avoids errors.”

During his Philippines trip, Obama announced the U.S. and the Philippines had reached a 10-year agreement on the American military using Philippine bases.

That’s all well and good, but when it comes to other world trouble spots — even by the pathetically low standard of simply avoiding errors, the president’s striking out so often even The New York Times is noticing. In an article last week, “Obama Suffers Setbacks in Japan and the Mideast,” The Times summed up some things haven’t been going well.

The setbacks, though worlds apart in geography and history, speak to the common challenge Mr. Obama has had in translating his ideas and ambitions into enduring policies. He has watched outside forces unravel his best-laid plans, from resetting relations with Russia to managing the epochal political change in the Arab world.

Obama’s right about one thing. That doesn’t sound sexy.

Community outrage forces squatters out of Florida soldier’s home

And if the president really thinks the interests of the American people are being advanced, he’s not doing a bang-up job explaining exactly how that’s being accomplished. When asked by Fox News correspondent Ed Henry to describe the “Obama Doctrine” Obama’s said he didn’t have time to get into it all (though it apparently doesn’t involve intercourse.)

The lameness of the answer might have gone unnoticed by most of the press corps, but it didn’t in the Twitter world.

Asked by @edhenryTV to describe the Obama Doctrine, @BarackObama says, “I doubt I am going to have time to outline my entire foreign policy”

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) April 28, 2014

Some responders were sarcastic:

@jonkarl @edhenryTV @BarackObama that’s ok. Give it a shot, Mr. President.

— Jackie Brooks (@jbrookscnm) April 28, 2014

It’s ok, I have the minute it would take – MT @jonkarl: @BarackObama: “I doubt I am going to have time to outline my entire foreign policy”

— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) April 28, 2014

Some were disbelieving:

@jonkarl@edhenryTV@BarackObama translated: I don’t have time to come up with one right now

— Shawn Walters (@elbucholoco) April 28, 2014

And others remembered how a similar question was handled by the mainstreamers when the respondent was Sarah Palin — a Republican woman and bete noire of the liberal media.

@jonkarl@edhenryTV@BarackObama Ha! I was thinking about how Palin was excoriated over Bush Doctrine & where is Obama Doctrine? Hmmm, MSM?

— Dana (@Grandbulldoggie) April 28, 2014

Palin, of course, stirred up a minor storm of fake media outrage when she appeared to fumble a question from ABC interviewer Charlie Gibson during the 2008 campaign when he asked her to describe the “Bush Doctrine.” Most of the outrage was manufactured, as Charles Krauthammer pointed out at the time in the Washington Post. But the damage was done. Don’t expect to see anything of the kind directed at an actual sitting president who can’t explain his own worldview.

All of this is a long way of saying the  president’s Potemkin foreign policy is as nebulous as the “hope and change” mantra the media libs helped him fool so many American voters with in 2008. His performance on the global stage since re-election makes Republican candidate Mitt Romney look better every day.

Back home, when it comes to knocking around the Little Sisters of the Poor, Obama rocks. But at least they understand their own doctrine.

It’s not sexy either — but it’s real.

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Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

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