As the Libya conflict appears to settle into a potentially protracted stalemate, the memory of President Obama\u2019s demand that Muammar Qaddafi step down from power \u201d\u201c essentially a call for regime change \u201d\u201c is feeding a debate over what the president will or should do now to influence the outcome.<\/p>\n
A growing number of policymakers and regional experts are concluding that a drawn-out war in the midst of a turbulent Middle East would be the worst of all possibilities. And as they do, doubts are mounting over the Obama administration\u2019s decision to take \u201d\u201c or at least try to take \u201d\u201c a back-seat role among international powers involved in Libya.<\/p>\n
Even as Libya\u2019s rebels retreat from gains made last week and Colonel Qaddafi shows no signs of budging from his Tripoli stronghold, a debate builds over what the US should do. One side says Obama is in tune with a majority of Americans who may support the idea of humanitarian intervention, yet who are leery of any deeper involvement of the US in Libya.<\/p>\n