World needs Obama to do the right thing and to take his time if he needs to

The difference between a politician and a statesman is that the latter approaches every issue with an open mind, a politician with an open mouth.

I’ve never been certain who said that, although I like to think it was Harry Truman. It’s a piece of advice that I’m guessing President Obama is doing his damndest to follow right now.

Someone I greatly respect posted a different quote on his facebook page the other day. It was from George Kennan, an American diplomat in the period after the Second World War, and famous (in my limited knowledge, anyway) as a “cold warrior”. When I looked Kennan up I discovered in fact he was someone who started life distrusting the Soviet Union and ended up being an advocate of dialogue. He was a man who was at times highly influential, and at other times regarded as something of a crank.