James Drogan

"To this end, Mr Chollet argues that Mr Obama has formulated what amounts to a long-game checklist, a series of principles that should be applied to managing American power and making strategic choices. The first of these is balance: balance between interests and values, between priorities at home and abroad, between declared goals in different parts of the world, and between how much America should take on and how much should be borne by allies. And balance in the use of the whole toolbox—military power, diplomacy, economic leverage, development. Mr Chollet contrasts this with the lack of balance Mr Obama inherited from Mr Bush: a tanking economy, over 150,000 troops deployed in two wars and sagging American prestige.

The other key principles of the Obama checklist are: sustainability (avoid commitments that cost too much to stick with); restraint (ask not what America can do but what it should do); precision (wield a scalpel rather than a hammer); patience (give policies the time and effort to work); fallibility (be realistic about the chances of failure and modest about what you can achieve); scepticism (interrogate the issues and beware those peddling easy answers to difficult questions); exceptionalism (the recognition that because of its enormous power and attachment to universal values America has a unique responsibility to provide leadership in the world that cannot be ducked)."

I'm apolitical in this excerpt from a book reeview from The Economist (Playing it Long. (2016, July 30). The Economist, 66–67).  I'm only suggesting that there are good points raised that are relevant to decision making and worthy of consideration.