President Obama and his aides heralded his commencement speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point on Wednesday as a big moment, when he would lay out his foreign policy vision for the remainder of his term and refute his critics. The address did not match the hype, was largely uninspiring, lacked strategic sweep and is unlikely to quiet his detractors, on the right or the left.

Mr. Obama did make a strong case on the use of force. Understandably frustrated by critics who “think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak,” Mr. Obama was steady and sensible on this vital issue. He endorsed military action, even unilaterally, when the country is threatened or when the security of its allies is in danger. But he stressed, correctly, that not every problem has a military solution and warned that “some of our most costly mistakes came not from our restraint but from our willingness to rush into military adventures.” (He was right, for instance to call off the threat of action after President Bashar al-Assad of Syria agreed to surrender his chemical weapons.)

In his speech, Mr. Obama tried to push back against critics who say he has ceded America’s post-World War II dominance. The question, as he correctly put it, is “not whether America will lead but how we will lead” and he reasserted that “isolationism is not an option.” Mr. Obama was right when he suggested there would be no serious negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program without his approach to American leadership.

But he provided little new insight into how he plans to lead in the next two years, and many still doubt that he fully appreciates the leverage the United States has even in a changing world. Falling back on hackneyed phrases like America is the “indispensable nation” told us little.