The ups and downs of soft power

So how are President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton doing in their bid to reboot America's image abroad? Columnist Charles Krauthammer notes that both Russia and Iran have taken hostile, aggressive moves against U.S. interests at the same time that the United States has called for friendlier ties.

In response to such steps as Russia forcing Kyrgystan to close the U.S. airbase that supports the war in Afghanistan, or the Iranians launching a satellite to prove that they will soon have the ability to launch intercontinental missiles, we have done...apparently nothing.

Any new Administration will need time to get organized, but if this one can declare that the Venezuelan vote making Chavez president-for-life was sufficiently fair, or that it is joining the UN's Durban II negotiations, then it should be able to state its dismay at some of these other developments. At least, let's hope it's dismayed.