What Obama could pick up from Wilson

IF it were possible, US President Barack Obama might like to have paid a courtesy call on former US president Woodrow Wilson, in order to avoid making the same mistakes that the earlier president had made in foreign and domestic affairs, and to take away two crucial lessons.

Firstly, how not to build a new world order the way that Mr Wilson had done during his tenure at the White House from 1913-1921. Mr Obama might select the truly visionary parts of the Wilsonian world order, and discard his unbridled foreign military interventions. In this way, Mr Obama would preserve US global supremacy by adhering to his own emphasis on building multilateral alliances instead of sending US troops abroad at the smallest provocation.

Secondly, how not to manage his relationship with Republicans, who dominate the US Congress. Mr Wilson had antagonised Republicans who blocked his ground-breaking foreign-policy initiatives, and Mr Obama would do well to avoid his errors.