Fault lines forming on Obama foreign policy

Even though they were not part of Obama's campaign team, they have adapted quickly to his rigorous style of managed communication, which is policed by an inner circle of Obama intimates: Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and Denis McDonough, who are the most influential message commissars at the White House. That circle decides who gets interviewed on national television, when and pretty much what they say (not very successfully in the case of Vice President Biden, but nobody's perfect). It was no accident that Clinton did not appear on a Sunday television talk show until June 7 -- almost five months into the administration -- when the secretary of state was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."

Convinced that Obama is a unique American communicator, the White House did not want anyone else diluting his aura as spokesman to the world. And, surprise, surprise, this approach maximizes the close-in advisers' clout.

Their first-among-equals standing is also on display in quiet ways during the president's frequent overseas travels and leadership meetings, such as his trips to Russia and the Group of 8 summit in Italy last week. Officials abroad are struck by Obama's reflexive reliance on Emanuel, his chief of staff, even on foreign policy issues in these meetings. And one diplomat was surprised to learn that Axelrod, Obama's top political adviser, had been thoroughly briefed by Obama after a one-on-one meeting with the diplomat's president before Jones or Clinton were.