Barack Obama may be the best exponent of American public diplomacy since Benjamin Franklin, inspiring a newly hopeful attitude about the United States in many parts of the world. But beyond the president himself U.S. public diplomacy lacks coherence and impact.

One of the mysteries of our day is that American hard power has been so ineffective for so many years in apprehending Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri), leaving the group free to use public diplomacy to speak to Muslim publics — especially to a Pakistani nation that distrusts the United States.

Few stories have caught the scope of attention and imagination of both global public and press as President Barack Obama’s recent foray into the complicated landscape that is the Middle East.  Coverage and commentary was ubiquitous in all corners of the globe in the run-up to the president’s visit to Riyadh and Cairo and his speech at Cairo University.