Mr. Obama points with pride to his foreign-policy record, but there is little  to respect. America’s global reputation has declined since January 2009. There  is no region in the world where U.S. interests are advancing.

The United States no longer has a strong leadership position in Europe. The  trans-Atlantic relationship has withered. America is playing no important part  in trying to resolve the European debt crisis which threatens to plunge the  world into a new recession, if it is not already there. Germany, which has  assumed the lead role in addressing the problem, is now voicing concerns that  the record amounts of debt being accumulated by the Obama administration will be  the catalyst for a new economic collapse.

Mr. Obama has tried to remain flexible for Russia, an adversary state whose  leader Vladimir Putin isn’t short on ambition. Moscow agreed to the 2010 New  START nuclear-arms reduction treaty because it was a bad deal for America. Now  the Obama administration is talking about further nuclear cuts, which will  weaken our strategic deterrent at a time when Russia and China are modernizing  their nuclear arsenals, and proliferator states like North Korea and Pakistan  ponder how best to expand their nuclear programs. Washington has no evident  influence on Chinese behavior and relies on Beijing to continue to assume  responsibility for buying up our mounting debt. U.S. influence in Central and  South America is in decline.

There is no evident progress being made in the world’s hotspots. The war in  Afghanistan grinds on, producing higher casualties and greater volatility. The  only thing Mr. Obama can say for certain about that unfortunate country is  American troops are departing, and soon. Pakistan remains a haven for  terrorists, while Iraq is seeing a spike in sectarian violence. There is no  steady hand anywhere across the arc of instability.

Tehran continues its march to nuclear-weapons capability, and the Obama  administration seems more concerned with setting red lines for Israel than for  Iran. Relations between Mr. Obama and the Israeli prime minister are so frosty  that the president has refused to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when both will be  at the United Nations this month. Mr. Obama petulantly cutting off  communications will virtually guarantee a major crisis in the region; it’s only  a matter of time.

The fallout from the much-heralded Arab Spring continues. In Syria, a  full-scale civil war is under way which the United States has chosen not to  decisively influence. In Egypt, the world is  beginning to witness the results of what the State Department described as “legitimate Islamism.” Present in the mob outside the U.S.  embassy in Cairo on Tuesday was the family of blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman,  who is serving a life sentence for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center  bombing. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, has  promised to seek Rahman’s release. Anti-American sentiment is growing,  non-Muslim religious minorities are facing increased persecution, and Egypt’s  peace treaty with Israel that has maintained regional stability for three  decades is under assault.

The analogy to the failed Carter presidency is striking. Both Democrats came  to power offering a moral critique of U.S. foreign and national-security policy.  Both exploited war weariness and a desire for U.S. retrenchment. Both were  greeted with enthusiasm from a global community skeptical of American activism.  And both were taken advantage of by adversary states who understood that these  liberals were weak leaders. Jimmy Carter also saw a diplomat killed on his  watch: Adolph “Spike” Dubs, the U.S. representative to Afghanistan who was  murdered in Kabul in 1979.

The one positive decision Mr. Obama can point to — taking out Osama  bin Laden — is his weakest argument for a second term. After all, bin  Laden is dead, and that operation cannot be repeated