No silver bullets

James Goldgeier thinks a President Obama would have just as tough a go of it as a President McCain would:

“There is an expectation by the Europeans that Barack Obama could come in as president and he is going to wave his magic wand and everything is going to be different,” said James Goldgeier, expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“If he were to win, we would see a huge change in just the whole tone of American foreign policy ,” according to the former diplomat who is a specialist in trans-Atlantic relations.

However, on some key subjects, like the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and ties with Russia, Obama “is much more constrained” politically, Goldgeier told AFP.

“No president of the United States can tell the Russians: Yes, you can just do whatever you want in Georgia,” the analyst said.