Isn't the president's military commitment to Australia simply an admission of defeat in the Middle East?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45318987/ns/politics-white_house/t/obama-us-boost-military-presence-asia-pacific/
The US is chickening-out of the Middle East. Which means that the Chinese, who would love to have access to all that oil in order to grow their economy, will move in to control the harvest and distribution of this vital resource. It could have been us. Now it will be them ( or the Indians, but it will be the Chinese.)
So now the US is retreating to the next line of defense. Where is the wisdom in that. When the time comes to finally settle the issue of who controls the oil (it certainly will not be the House of Saud, or President Assad), the expense in lives and money will be much greater than if we had settled the issue,today, in the ME. What is the wisom or virtue in this move?