The more things change . . .

I guess it's becoming something of a refrain with me, but the notion that we can't expect much change in foreign policy from Barack Obama was the subject of my Antiwar.com column this week. The tone will surely be different, but he's escalating in Afghanistan and called four Middle East leaders today to assure them that the U.S. will continue to stick its nose in their business. Heck, he's even squabbling with Hugo Chavez. The best hope, perhaps, is that throwing money at domestic problems and the worldwide crisis that will have China less eager to lend us money just might leave the U.S. too broke to do much mischief in the world at large.