On November 4, 2008, the newly elected President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama told the world from Grant Park in Chicago “Yes We Can”. The top international challenges in 2009, when his presidency began, were Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea and China. The Arab Spring was still in the future and the Middle East crises had not expanded to epidemic proportions. A couple of years into his term the Arab world in general and the Middle East in particular, became the cris