Is our President, and America itself, becoming laughingstock of the world to be ignored and dismissed, if not ridiculed, as Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro have? The world has taken measure of the man and he has fallen short.

Chavez calls Obama "the devil" and that, using his favorite way to describe the odor of American President, he smells of sulfur. Even Fidel Castro mocks him .

Then other world leaders "include him out" of meetings that he has to invite himself into to by barging in. The Iranians have swatted away his outstretched hand by depicting him as no better than George Bush.

Of course, the way he has mistreated allies - ignoring Prime Minister Gordon Brown (who had to force his own meeting with the President by meeting him in a kitchen), sending the bust of Winston Churchill back across the pond; stiffing the Dalai Lama, ignoring the work of allied nations that led to the tearing down on the Berlin Wall and the downfall of communism, and throwing various former allies under the bus does not engender trust or loyalty. He stabbed Alice Palmer, his mentor, in the back as he used legal challenges to knock her off the ballot during a race that he wanted to win. The list could go on..and will in the years ahead.