OBAMA'S POLICY GRIDLOCK

AT the start of his Presidency last January Barack Obama had a difficult choice to make. With so many promises of change made during his election campaign, should he try to tackle them all at once, or one-by-one. He bravely opted for the former course -- a change in itself in presidential practice -- but now finds himself faced by a gridlock of problems as several of his initiatives have stalled at the same time. It is entirely understandable that he wants to give maximum possible attention to his health care proposals; if these fail it will be a serious blow to his standing in the United States. But the time spent of this issue has obviously meant that foreign policy problems have languished. In the case of Afghanistan Mr Obama's allies in Nato want to hear what advice he has received from General McChrystal and how he intends to react to it. In the Middle East there seems a danger that Israel will succeed to some extent in a compromise over the freezing of settlements that will yet again leave the Palestinians unwilling to participate in meaningful negotiations.

The meetings that take place in the corridors of the United Nations during the current opening days of the General Assembly may give President Obama an opportunity to refocus on the foreign policy matters to which he gave such promising attention while campaigning last year.