(CNN) -- The period since September 11, 2001, will never be described by any historian as a golden age of U.S. foreign policy. I know. I have just written a history on it, and it's not pretty. Since 9/11, the United States has swung unsettlingly from one set of flawed policies to another. First, the unilateralist excess of the first term of the Bush administration; its signature error was the invasion of Iraq. Then, the reactive swing of Barack Obama, toward disengagement and dithering. In a tragic irony, a war in Iraq may someday also be seen as the enduring symbol of his errors.
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David Rothkopf: Both Bush and Obama have overseen unsettled era of post 9/11 foreign policy
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Obama has made mistakes of judgment, execution, but in final 2 years he can change, he says
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How? Take page from Bush. He cleaned Cabinet in term 2, admitted errors, he says
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Rothkopf: Obama must create change from within his administration
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United States
The genius of the @placeholder system is that it is built to change.
Bush
Bush
Bush
Because whatever mistakes @placeholder made in office -- and they were many -- in his second term, Bush recognized the urgent need for change and instituted a sweeping reordering of his administration, its policies and priorities.
Bush
Bush
Bush
Because whatever mistakes Bush made in office -- and they were many -- in his second term, @placeholder recognized the urgent need for change and instituted a sweeping reordering of his administration, its policies and priorities.
Barack Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
And he rewrote key policies, launching the surge in Iraq, initiating the "light footprint" approach to fighting terror later adopted by @placeholder and responding to the financial crisis.
Barack Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
He also actively sought to bring new, outside perspectives into his second term team, a stark contrast to the @placeholder approach.