Nowhere have President Obama's foreign policy approaches been in starker relief than during his unfolding travels in South America. Right now the use of military power in Libya is overshadowing his lead-by-example public diplomacy in his own hemisphere.

President Barack Obama held up Latin America as a shining example for those in the Middle East fighting for democracy, while urging leaders in the region to recommit themselves to defending human rights and strengthening democratic institutions in their own countries.

Reaching out to a vast but overshadowed region, President Barack Obama on Monday called Latin America a rising giant in the world that must live up to greater responsibilities and speak up for those whose rights are crushed.

DOHA --- My conversation with two North African friends ranged widely, from the role of satellite television in the Arab world to the prospects for electoral reform in the region. Then we came to how other nations would deal with the new dynamics of Arab politics. One of my friends said, “In the past, diplomacy has been with the leaders, but now it must be with the people.”

As international forces launched attacks against Libya on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a tone highly unusual in the annals of American military interventions: humility.

A day after giving the go-ahead for joint military strikes against Libya, President Barack Obama and his staff tried to refocus his first-ever trip to South America with a brief tour of the city and a speech hailing Brazil’s economic might and vibrant democracy.

Amid unrest in the Middle East and the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, President Barack Obama is staying the course by going ahead with his five-day trip to Latin America. The first family will depart Friday night for stops in Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, where the president will meet with the leaders of each country to discuss trade and the global economy.

When Barack Obama lands in Brazil this weekend, he will find a country transformed. In little more than a decade, some 30 million people have been lifted out of poverty and the country has risen to seventh place in the world economy.