Thomas Shannon

It is not easy being a regional leader in Latin America. Pleasing the constituents in your own country is tough to begin with and then, if you have the profile of someone such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, there are the hopes of millions who see in you the potential to affect the most pressing political and economic issues of these polarized times.

For some in this city, that very president has fallen short of expectations and the day when Brazilians go to the polls to choose his successor, October 3rd, won’t come soon enough.

Finally, President Obama's Latin America team has its leader. Six months after his nomination, Arturo Valenzuela was sworn in on Nov. 10 as the top U.S. diplomat in the region: head of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. Now Obama's "new chapter of engagement" between the United States and its southern neighbors can begin in earnest.

Four months after the military ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, de facto leader Roberto Micheletti has finally agreed to restore Zelaya to power. Micheletti's change of heart removes the sticking point in negotiations that have frustrated an international community united in its opposition to the coup.

U.S. policy toward Latin America is suffering from a lack of experience at the top. Neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden or anyone in the cabinet could honestly be considered a Latin Americanist. And Arturo Valenzuela, Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs -- the top diplomatic post in the region -- remains unconfirmed, the victim of a Republican senator's cheap political maneuvering.