In Mideast, Obama Finds He Has Limited Leverage

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BY GERALD F. SEIB
The Middle East has a tendency to eat up American presidencies, and suddenly that is a real danger facing President Barack Obama.
The region is much closer to a broad conflagration than most Americans realize, with Sunnis now facing off against Shiites, and secularists against Islamists across a wide swath of lands. The dream of fostering a new wave of democratic, multiethnic governments—embraced by two successive American administrations—may be withering before our eyes.
As a result, Mr. Obama is coming face-to-face with two hard questions: Does the U.S., with a shrunken checkbook and a weary military, have the power to …
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