HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Obama’s Middle East policy in tatters: U.S is now less popular in the region than at the end of the George W. Bush administration. Popularity might not be the best gauge of success — but it’s hard to think of any other metrics on which Obama has done better. And, of course, one of the promises of his campaign was that by electing a black man with an Arab-sounding name, we’d do better with the region than we did with Bush. Not so much, as it turns out.