On Wednesday, standing on yet another world stage — this one in Estonia — President Obama sounded at last like the global leader the world urgently needs.

In a carefully crafted speech, Obama firmly warned both the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, who are now terrorizing two already war-torn countries, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who is invading Ukraine and boasting that he has nukes, that NATO and the world will not let their evil exploits go unchecked and unpunished.

No doubt many of the planet’s worried leaders and followers who were watching on their wired and wireless screens must have been wondering: Is the real leader who defines America’s presidency in this era of clashing global crises the Barack Obama they just saw speaking in Tallinn — or is it the Barack Obama they saw a week earlier telling White House correspondents he didn’t have a “strategy” for combating terror in Syria?

The answer, for better and for worse, is all of the above. America’s presidency is today defined by both of those seemingly starkly different leaders. The president can be the Obama who speaks eloquently and issues courageous orders, such as the one that delivered a belated just end to Osama bin Laden. But he can also be the Obama who seems maddeningly hamstrung by caution, who rambles in press conferences and winds up airing thoughts best left unsaid.

Think back just a week. On the afternoon of Aug. 28, Obama came back to the White House fed up with being criticized for continuing his vacation of golf and relaxation while keeping informed about clashing world crises in Syria and Iraq, Israel and Gaza and Ukraine.

If Obama had a message he wanted to deliver that day, it didn’t seem to be anything urgent about the global crises — for he had no big news to announce on that. It frankly seemed to be his way of having a White House backdrop so people could see he was back on the job, no longer riding in golf carts. Indeed, he began his remarks by noting some recent positive developments in the latest economic statistics.

Then, when he turned to global crises, his only new message effort seemed to be to get the world to undo the expectations raised by his top National Security Council officials (who were at that moment waiting for him to join their meeting in the West Wing). As when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Pentagon reporters ISIS posed a greater threat than al Qaeda did in its attacks of 9/11 — “beyond anything we’ve seen.” And when Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, added ISIS “will eventually have to be defeated” — and that can only be done within Syria.

That Aug. 28 White House event is now remembered as the day Obama stunned most of the global cognoscenti by saying, in reference to attacking ISIS inside Syria: “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet.”

Critics portrayed his quote as something a naive Obama blurted out inadvertently, responding to a question. But read Obama’s August 28 transcript. You’ll be surprised (as I was) to discover Obama didn’t just blurt it inadvertently in answering a question. In fact, he made his first three references to lacking a strategy in his prepared opening statement.

Then, when the first correspondent asked him a rambling, unfocused first question about it, Obama wandered into a lengthy rambling response. He said his advisers are preparing diplomatic and military options for a “regional strategy” and a “broad strategy.” That’s when he uttered his now infamous, “We don’t have a strategy yet.”

Here at the intersection of news media, policy and politics we’re not used to hearing politicos actually mix candor with their dishing of campaign rhetoric and explanatory policy babble.

Sadly, we are used to wartime leaders who pretend they are big on candor — but really don’t have a broad strategy. And don’t get it right about how the military and political tactics they’ve ordered will turn out.

Yes, there are times when Obama can be a frustrating and disappointing president. And, of course, we are all filled with admiration and appreciation for all who fought our battles for us in faraway lands.

But nothing can be more frustrating for those who fought so bravely than to witness the way their wars played out in Vietnam and in Iraq. And few among us have long-term confidence that things will fare any better in Afghanistan.

Martin Schram is a veteran Washington journalist and author.