Barack Obama’s claim to be America’s first Pacific president has come handy in his recent visit to Australia (“We’re Back,” November 19, 2011). As your article’s title suggests, though, this is surely an exaggeration on his part. You mention the ANZUS Treaty, whose acronym comes from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. It was signed in 1951, only two years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed. In addition there was the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, which was formed in 1954 and which fell apart in 1977. As their names suggest, NATO and SEATO were not far apart in terms of their aims and means. Of course, America was very much a Pacific power during World War II and the Korean War following it. In short, the old treaties need to be dusted off, but that is about all. The shift of American bases and other military installations to the Pacific will follow smoothly enough. Many of them are already there, anyhow. And Obama’s Pacific show can go on unimpeded.