Obama Skirts Challenges Abroad in Setting Domestic Goals

President Barack Obama said little in his State of the Union address last night to answer some of the most pressing foreign-policy questions he faces.

These include how many -- if any -- U.S. forces will remain in Afghanistan after this year, how he will deal with an increasingly assertive China, and what the U.S. can do to fight the al-Qaeda offshoots that have taken root in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and across North Africa.