Pity any President of the United States. Talk about being the lightning rod for every problem in the world. HST should never have reminded everyone "The Buck Stops Here."
Just as the President can't take credit for every success, he isn't the cause of every problem.
Just as in Vietnam, we don't "lose" in Iraq even if we bail out. Our intentions were and are commendable. The U.S. military has achieved unprecedented dominance, particularly in aerospace and sea power, but U.S. political objectives are somewhere around a good foul shooting percentage in a local basketball league -- not bad, but room for improvement.
Democracy is so easy to want but so hard to achieve. Willing informed participation in government of, by, and for the people. Iraq and much of the Middle East demonstrate once again how hard feudalism and tribalism die.