Obama have the ability to face the challenges

WASHINGTON: From marauding militants in Iraq to pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and beheadings of Americans in Syria, a world in crisis has fanned perceptions of an overwhelmed US president and contributed to a Republican sweep of US midterm elections.

But the slide of public confidence in President Barack Obama and the takeover of US Congress by resurgent Republicans will complicate, though not seriously undermine, US foreign policy that is grappling with wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and a more aggressive China in Asia.

Republicans rode to victory with a boost from the widespread view of an Obama White House beset by perpetual crisis. Broadcasts of black-clad Islamic State militants advancing in Syria or medical teams in white hazmat suits grappling with the Ebola epidemic played endlessly on TV news broadcasts, badly damaging Democrats at Tuesday's mid-term elections.

Obama's opponents will now wield greater power on Capitol Hill in the final two years of his tenure. But the president will still possess broad constitutional powers to conduct foreign policy and could decide to focus more of his attention abroad, taking his cue from the second terms of past presidents, if Congress stymies his domestic ambitions.

Whether he wants to make more of a mark internationally or not, Obama will have a long list of formidable challenges.

“The world sees a lame-duck with his authority undermined,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to both Republican and Democratic administrations. “It will be the perception of a diminished president who will have a difficult time sailing the already difficult waters of Washington.”