inexperienced young president, US foreign policy in the Middle East has been fitful and directionless. Yes, the president campaigned on the promise of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that is not a policy in and of itself. Instead it became the recipe for a vacuum. And in the Middle East, vacuums become open invitations for the hegemonic designs of overly ambitious actors.

As an example, consider Iran. With the fall of Saddam Hussein and the US tilt toward the Shiites in Iraq, the Sunni backlash was inevitable. Before he left office, however, President Bush had gone a long way toward fixing that problem. Obama didn’t inherit a fiasco. On the contrary, with American tutelage the Shiite PM and the Sunni community were well on their wayWestborough residents have been curious to see what the interior of the house at 43 Church St. looks like since Michael Fitzpatrick and his wife started rehabilitating the property in 2009.

After several open houses, some of which drew crowds as large as 400 people, Fitzpatrick’s work is now being nominated for a statewide award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Former Westborough Historical Commission Chair Paula Skog said she nominated the project for a 2013 Preservation Award in the category of rehabilitation and restoration.

“I just knew that this was going to deserve a preservation award,” Skog said.

This is the first time a Westborough property has been nominated, she said.

Skog said the house was built in 1849 for Nancy White, a widow who lived in a farmhouse in Westborough until her