Emperor Nero was accused of playing the fiddle while Rome burned.
This analogy may be applied to our world leaders today as the crisis in the Middle-East has the potential to spiral out of control into the next world war.
Although it is true that President Obama has had more than than his fair share of international crises to deal with, it is also true that no president can pick their challenges.
President Obama started his first term with two wars - Iraq and Afghanistan, a financial meltdown to rival the Great Depression, the "Arab Spring-Winter" - the overthrow of several governments in that region and a civil war brewing in Syria.
Following all that up, in his second term Obama faced the Syria "line in the sand" chemical weapons challenge, Benghazi, an Iran nuclear weapons stalemate and Russian aggression in Ukraine along with the un-answered invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Even with all of these world events taking place beyond America's borders, what is unquestionably true is that the American people today are much less interested in the rest of the world and far more interested in their own personal well being.
Perhaps we as Americans can not see beyond our own borders unless events somehow threaten the integrity of those borders and our own way of life.
It may be as sad as it is true that the average American does not understand that their personal safety and financial well being are directly affected by world events and they simply cannot be ignored.
An all out war in the Middle-East, creating more failed states, will not only affect the US economy, it is also likely to pose a real safety risk to US citizens both here and abroad as terrorists entities like ISIS pledge to annihilate those who do not follow their path to salvation.
Like it or not America is still an indispensable factor when it comes to world leadership and keeping world peace.
To be fair, it is not America or its leaders alone who seem to be less interested in dealing with these international crises.
The leaders of the EU have not exactly rushed in to fill the vacuum either.
When it came time for them to show real leadership and join the US to impose the toughest sanctions against Russia for "annexing" Crimea - none of them seemed ready to handle the economic or political pain that such a move might cause back home.
As a result weak sanctions were the order of the day and Putin's aggression went unanswered.
The 100th Anniversary of World War I prompting revised interest for anyone paying attention to the causes of that war, should give all these world leaders some pause - since their failure to act now could put them all in a far worse position later.
"Kicking the can down the road" for the next hapless president or prime minister to deal with is simply not an option.
The Middle-East has never been so explosive.
Every country in the region is facing serious problems.
On top of the war raging in Syria, Egypt who was once a reliable power broker in the peace process, is now struggling to stabilize itself after overthrowing a democratically elected Muslim president.
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq are all having their own immigration border issues as fleeing refugees from Syria and other neighboring countries stream in causing them further destabilization.
And Israel of course is threatened by more instability than ever both within and outside its own "established borders".
Hamas seems to have decided that the world will do nothing based on the Syria situation and they are taking advantage of this lack of world leadership to push their agenda and put Israel to the test.
Up till now the "Iron Dome" protection system has given Israel the time and space it has needed to avoid taking the most extreme actions in response to the constant shelling of its towns and cities by Hamas.
However the actions they have taken in self defense - and the related collateral damage to civilians in Gaza - have had the unintended consequence of inspiring Muslims to join Hamas' cause.
This situation cannot last. If "Iron Dome" fails to protect Israelis just once then all bets are off.
There is also no hope of a long term solution since the peace talks have collapsed with no clear plan to restart them.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, who all border this mess, are also keeping a watchful eye on these events since this area is ripe for a proxy war between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
The US and its allies have avoided direct military involvement in Syria allowing it to collapse into a failed state and a haven for terrorists.
A direct result of this failure to act in Syria is that ISIS has taken over parts of both Syria and Iraq and they now threaten to redraw the map of the Middle-East unless they are stopped.
It is an election year in the US and the importance of all of this as it effects the US response cannot be underestimated.
Although President Obama and his team might like to focus on domestic issues since the Mid-Term elections are only about four months away, the world is simply not cooperating.
Support of Israel is a political cornerstone of any successful US political campaign -whether you are Republican or Democrat.
It is clear that at this time military involvement in yet another conflict is a sure political loser.
This puts both President Obama and his Republican challengers in a tough spot, since this situation seems to be a real "no win" no matter what they do here.
Unless of course, Obama can convince Cameron, Merkel, Hollande and the other EU leaders along with China, Japan and Russia to put their domestic political issues aside, speak with one strong voice and join a Diplomatic Coalition of the Willing to quell this brewing storm before it is too late.