The Founding Fathers of the United States declared that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. After September 11, Bush leveraged this sacred national ethos to motivate and lead the country in its fight against international terrorism. Today, Obama will have to contend with the most extreme elements of the Christian right, which remain strongly present in American society. For Putin, it will be extremely difficult to bring unity to the disintegrative forces created by the myriad ethnicities and religions that characterize his country, starting with the Chechen Muslim irredentism, where religion and politics merge into a mix that is challenging to resolve.
