[okie01]

Forgive me, but is this episode representative of the Obama administration's rank incompetence in foreign relations?

Or is it, instead, part of a comprehensive effort to reduce America's standing in the free world?

[AmericanInTokyo]

A little of both perhaps.

There is indeed an effort to reduce, or reduce the appearance of, "American Exceptionalism" in foreign policy circles, particularly among the elites. To me, the photograph encapsulates that very succinctly.