It is complicated, but things are definitely changing. Thankfully the foreign policy is not set by congressmen/senators. The politicians will not change unless the voters start to question them. Unfortunately American voters’ apathy towards foreign policy made the politicians play to the tune of the lobbyists. After 9/11, American voters are taking note of what is happening outside their borders and as was seen during the recent events in Gaza a lot of Americans are questioning why US is supporting Israel ( thanks to the social media ).
And yet more licenses were issued during Obama’s administration than during Bush’s. That says a lot; a left-leaning democratic administration issuing more licenses for onshore drilling, going against their own base. To me it is a sign of desperation and a ray of hope at the same time. They want to be off the Middle East oil spigot, bad!
The dysfunction in legislation and governance is just politics as usual. It just seems a bit severe this time, since both parties seem to take an extreme stand on almost everything.