A president with liberal roots reveals his cold-blooded side.


WASHINGTON - When he took office last year, President Obama told his foreign policy advisers that he had two baskets of issues to deal with. The first would be the legacy issues left from his predecessor, like Iraq, Afghanistan and America’s image in the world. The second would be his own agenda for the future.

After 15 months addressing the vexing matters he inherited, Mr. Obama is now aggressively advancing his own vision of foreign policy and defining himself more clearly on the world stage. The 47-nation conference on nuclear security he wrapped up recently represented a chance to assert leadership rather than simply showing that he is not George W. Bush.

“Now he’s beginning to get back to the agenda that he came to office to do,” said Nancy E. Soderberg, a former diplomat and now president of The Connect U.S. Fund, a nonprofit group that promotes international engagement. “His legacy in domestic policy is likely to be health care. But his legacy in foreign policy is likely to be this nonproliferation agenda.”

The nuclear summit meeting came after weeks of a more assertive approach to international affairs, as Mr. Obama seeks to demonstrate strength in the face of assumptions overseas that he may be weak. He refused to give in to Russian demands for limits on missile defense and came away with an arms control treaty that, while modest, sets the stage for better relations. He got into high-profile scraps with the leaders of Israel and Afghanistan. And now he faces a critical test of whether he can forge a coalition to impose new sanctions on Iran.

Mr. Obama eventually reached a truce in his clash with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. But during his news conference closing the nuclear meeting, he seemed to signal a renewed determination to reinsert himself into the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

By describing the long-running conflict as a threat to American security, he effectively adopted the argument of General David H. Petraeus, his Middle East commander, who recently warned that the region’s troubles created a dangerous environment for American troops stationed in nearby Iraq and elsewhere in the area. “It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower,” he said. “And when conflicts break out, one way or another, we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure.”

For most new presidents, foreign policy is a learning experience, and it can take months to feel comfortable in the role of world leader. Advisers said Mr. Obama, like his predecessors, had grown more confident in managing international relations.

But he has learned hard lessons along the way about the limits of his powers of persuasion. He has acknowledged that he underestimated, for instance, just how hard it would be to bring Israelis and Palestinians together, and his engagement with Iran yielded no more cooperation than Mr. Bush’s approach.

If there is an Obama doctrine emerging, it is one much more realpolitik than his predecessor’s, focused on relations with traditional great powers and relegating issues like human rights and democracy to second-tier concerns. He has generated much more good will around the world after years of tension with Mr. Bush, and yet he does not seem to have strong personal friendships with many world leaders.

“Everybody always breaks it down between idealist and realist,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. “If you had to put him in a category, he’s probably more realpolitik, like Bush 41,” the first President George Bush, Mr. Emanuel said.

He added, “He knows that personal relationships are important, but you’ve got to be cold-blooded about the self-interests of your nation.”

With health care behind him, Mr. Obama has an opportunity to focus on translating his vision for foreign policy into reality. “It’s both strengthened and liberated him so he could deal with other things with wind in his sails,” said Richard N. Haass, a former top official in George W. Bush’s State Department who now leads the Council on Foreign Relations.

The treaty with Russia, the nuclear meeting and other initiatives, he added, are the beginning for Mr. Obama. “These are not transformational developments,” he said, “but in foreign policy it’s important to keep the ball moving down the field in the right direction, and that’s what’s happening.”


DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Leaders of 47 nations recently gathered in Washington for a nuclear security meeting, one sign of President Obama’s more assertive approach to foreign affairs.