Well, you didn't say they were in NATO, only an ally, but that's problematic, as per my answer.
Depends on when you took the snapshot of public perception, which I noted was impacted by a great deal of misinformation, to which I'd add speculation and out and out lies on either side of it.
And yet the Republican party was objecting and loudly protesting as though they did. I suspect favorable public responses had more to do with something being done on a subject where the do nothing status quo was by any sane metric untenable.
The timing had a lot to do with the Republican strategy, which was to pretend to negotiate in good faith while undermining the effort and beginning a whirlwind public campaign to erode support. The President and whoever advised him at the time seemed incapable of understanding that until someone managed to get word out about the strategy and the intent of those he'd been meeting with to oppose him in every way they could, regardless of merit, to revive their party and unseat him in the next election.
And the efforts at dividing his own party, a party much more cobbled than solid, were proving fruitful. So it was strike while the iron had some heat or fail as the Clinton administration had before it. My response at the time was, essentially, good. Now that it's here let the republicans do what they should have all along, which is make the thing more efficient and on point. Work out the practical aspects of the aim.
Rather, our President, who is neither despot nor genius and whom I feel relatively confident in noting neither of us voted for the last time out.
I think you lack anything approaching objectivity on the point and that's underscored by the emotion laden rhetoric you use to describe him. That's closer to an expression of hatred, unlike my mild disinterest in Cruz and impression that he won't win the margin he needs to have any real shot at the White House.
Now if public sentiment were the weather vane you'd have a slightly more compelling case:
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 33 percent of voters think the current president is the worst since 1945.
Obama’s predecessor, former President George W. Bush, came in at second-worst with 28 percent, and Richard Nixon was in third place with 13 percent of the vote. After Jimmy Carter, who 8 percent of voters said was the worst president in the time period, no other president received more than 3 percent.
Link.
But even that isn't really in agreement with you and is hardly a majority of opinion, with many a republican being outside of that 33, which is one reason I underscore the sort of rhetoric you use, my way of underlining that you're at the fringe and as such your objectivity is compromised significantly.
I think you're mistaken and that he will be remembered for a few important and beneficial acts and a series of petty or avoidable failures. Time will tell how that washes out.
He did nothing of the sort, only noted undefined errors and that he lacked sufficient political support to continue. Nixon pretended to leave office for the benefit of the nation. In fact, he left the office to a good man he knew would protect him from the consequences of his actions to spare that nation further upheaval. It was a shrewd political assessment and, as he usually was in that arena, he had it right.
He's a tragic figure, but not a noble one. His second act was better.
See: my earlier comments on what the rhetoric we use says about the objectivity of our approach and our ability to promote a fair analysis.