I'll get right to the point: Obama, and the US's reticence for getting involved in global developments and its unwillingness to flex its muscles when necessary, under his stewardship, has caused the events we're seeing today. I label the combination of events as basically a power vacuum, with the many different countries and movements waiting to fill the void left by previous US activity and intervention. Developments between Ukraine and Russia, as well as Russia's (i.e. Putin's) general feather-ruffling antics; Syria and the ISIS, not to mention Iraq and Iran, which taken altogether has further inflamed the Israeli-Palestinian situation; and containment, or lack thereof, of China in its regional disputes, can all be traced and attributed to the American president. Perhaps the crucial point that lost him any shred of remaining credibility was his "red line" in Syria which was erased (or ignored, forgotten, removed, overlooked, etc.), written as though in pencil. The world now views him and the country as a joke; the good guys don't trust him to come to their aid, while the bad guys know he doesn't have the guts to stand up for freedom: political, economic, or otherwise.
To set the record straight, I am not a far right wing activist bent on impeaching Obama. Nor am I a left wing academic who doesn't think he's Socialist enough. I am a middle of the road, typical American (although I have a unique vantage point living overseas in Europe), fed up with the mess in the world. I never voted for Obama, but you won't see me voting for a Republican either. Any political organization that embraces Limbaugh or Delay, or one that espouses anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments (one and the same, see recent Paris riots, or even Boston, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Cohen), or a party whereby party loyalty and entrenched politics is the norm, not bipartisan discourse and making compromises for the sake of the country (currently both the Democratic and Republican parties are guilty), is not one I'll vote for. Yes, the political system is broken in the US, but that's another story for another day. The main point here is that I'm not an Obama basher for the sake of bashing, but based on his actions which have shaken the US's standing in the world, and thus world order. The US needs to flex its muscles further in order to create and maintain a playing field which it wants to play on, where its companies and population can ably compete, and not shirk its responsibilities to both its own citizens and the countless others globally who don't have a voice.
What needs to be done? First, Obama needs to get his allies straightened out. The UK and Germany are key players whose lack of initiative, or just plain lack of cajones, has further emboldened the likes of Putin. Obama needs to strengthen and bolster support for NATO, giving it more teeth and actually enabling it to act, and forcibly pressure the UK and Germany to cut off Putin and his oligarch buddies. Economies may take a hit in the short run, but the last I heard following your morals isn't always easy, yet is always the right thing to do. Germany's economy certainly has room for margin.
Second, Obama needs to personally invest himself. His lack of personal engagement in just about everything he does shows both his lack of grasp of his job and lack of ambition to do what is necessary, although perhaps even more so his ineptitude. If he wants to show the world he means business, he needs to get dirty in the trenches. Be involved with Congress (whose undoing he shoulders only a fraction of the blame), go to Israel, twist South Korea's and Japan's arms to get them to present a united front against China, talk to Iraq, break Iran's back and don't acquiesce to its procrastination or just plain double-talk; Kerry is a nice errand boy but lacks the appeal or the real influence of a president. (Syria is a mess Obama helped further create, but he can reassert himself vis-a-vis the regime through propping up of "responsible" parties with the help of allies such as France and Saudi Arabia, punishing it for gross misdeeds and helping rid itself of ISIS and other terrorists in the process.)
Lastly, Obama needs to take China head on instead of this de facto trade war, war of diplomacy, proxy battles, and name calling to everyone else but to their face. He should call their bluff, stand up for the residents of Hong Kong, force it to behave in the South China Sea and to a lesser extent, at the moment, the East China Sea (militarily if necessary), prevent its "independent" companies from listing on US stock exchanges, make it harder for Chinese to purchase US assets, both real estate and companies, and all in all get them to be a responsible actor and exert positive influence around the world. There is plenty he can do; China wouldn't dare dump its US Treasury holdings (not that it could) and risk destroying its domestic, not to mention the world, economy, and directly hurting one sixth of the global population in the process.
With all the chaos at this moment, and with all of the US's enemies and evils in the world gathering steam, perhaps Obama's greatest challenge, and biggest adversary, is himself. His hollow talk and lack of involvement has hurt his own personal standing, the standing of the president of the United States of America, and our country's standing and credibility in the world. His legacy is doomed, but he can start acting in ways for him to gain some respectability back, and help get the world in order for the next leader of the free world.
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