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Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/02/12/the_avoider_obama_state_of_the_union_foreign_policy
Obama's State of the Union Address
(Foreign Policy) Aaron David Miller - In his 2012 State of the Union speech, President Obama made it clear that he would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and take no option off the table. In 2013, Obama repeated half of what he said in 2012 about preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but instead of saying all options were on the table, he spoke of the importance of diplomacy. I suspect he'll go to extreme lengths to avoid war, and won't greenlight an Israeli attack either until the arc of diplomacy has run its course. And then Obama would likely act only if the mullahs push the envelope by accelerating their uranium enrichment program and other military aspects of the nuclear enterprise. Obama spoke of standing with Israel to pursue peace, but didn't mention Palestinians or the peace process. The Middle East is violent and volatile and may yet suck him in, but if he can avoid it, he'll try. This State of the Union address stressed fixing America's broken house, not chasing around the world trying to fix everyone else's. The writer is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.