When President Obama came to office in January 2009, some hailed him as the first Asia-Pacific president, given his upbringing in Hawaii. Indeed, during his first term, President Obama emphasized a U.S. “rebalance toward Asia” in word and action, traveling extensively within the region in 2011. However, with a full set of domestic policy demands and with major developments in other regions of the world – most notably the Arab Spring, the Syrian conflict, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – the sustainability of the administration’s policy shift toward Asia has been called into question.