Obama was elected as a democrat and as president foreign policy is his prerogative. Hillary Clinton is seen as a resolute secretary of state who also has some capable ambassadors. One thereby might assume that those two together would have a firm and decisive voice in U.S. foreign policy decisions.
But as this piece on the unwillingness of the U.S. to say sorry for the deadly attack on Pakistani soldiers makes clear, even day to day foreign policy is set by different powers.
The [United States ambassador to Pakistan], speaking by videoconference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch, and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible, the officials recounted.
Defense Department officials balked. While they did not deny some American culpability in the episode, they said expressions of remorse offered by senior department officials and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were enough, at least until the completion of a United States military investigation establishing what went wrong.
Some administration aides also worried that if Mr. Obama were to overrule the military and apologize to Pakistan, such a step could become fodder for his Republican opponents in the presidential campaign, according to several officials who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
On Wednesday, White House officials said Mr. Obama was unlikely to say anything further on the matter in the coming days.
So instead of the State Department it is the Pentagon that making the foreign policy decision and instead of the elected democrats the republican candidates are the most influential force in the adoption of these foreign policies with regards to Pakistan.
And even when it is in the genuine U.S. interest to regain some good will with Pakistan, as expressed by the ambassador, the man in the Oval Office, hell-bent to get reelected, is unwilling to spend some political capital on the issue and to make the right decision.