During most of the Bush administration, human rights and democracy in Egypt were on the front burner.

Pessimism is rife in Israel.

Syria's population is 74% Sunni Muslim.

Two presidents pursued human rights policies that were serious and effective, Reagan and George W. Bush. They understood that American support for human rights activists is a moral imperative for us and also makes the world safer for us.

First impressions matter. Experts say we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

The Obama administration has vastly expanded the use of armed drones and concentrated a great deal of diplomatic effort on building and maintaining alliances that share information about terrorists, provide access to get near them, and then strike against them.

A great nation like the United States has many and varied interests, and we need both to do business with tyrants and to engage constantly in multilateral diplomacy.