From the Publisher

As of this writing, the Obama Administration has been in office for less than a month, but no grass has grown under its feet. It has introduced a massive economic stimulus package which, depending on one’s political orientation, has been called a misdirected expenditure of money or a meaningful response to the current global financial crisis.

President Obama named former Senator George Mitchell as his special envoy to the Middle East. Depending on who you are, this could be seen as the same old approach with the same old guy or a welcome renewal of American engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

President Obama has reached out to the Muslim world, which could be seen as an affirmation of pre-election concerns about his commitment to Israel, or as a wise move that will allow him to broker a real and lasting peace in the Middle East.

Every action taken by the Obama Administration in its short history has evoked strong reactions from practically every point on the political spectrum. By the time this appears in print, a clearer picture of who President Obama is and what he stands for may emerge. At the moment, however, we have only perceptions.

What is clear is that President Obama has taken all the lessons of the last eight years and thrown them out the window. He has reinstated some old discredited policies and beliefs. Among them is the belief that the hostility coming from the Muslim world is the result of American behavior. In other words, if only we reach out to them they will embrace us in return.

That’s not going to happen. But then President Obama is going to have to learn that himself, the same way he will have to learn that you can’t negotiate Iran out of developing a nuclear bomb.

President Obama also has decided that he is going to shift the focus of the war from Iraq to Afghanistan. A big mistake. Afghanistan will be a greater quagmire than Iraq ever was. History tells us this. No foreign power has ever been successful in Afghanistan.

Why is he doing this? Because it separates how he conducts the war from the way President Bush conducted the war.

There is a Talmudic saying, “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.” It is clear that the new crowd at the White House has disdain for its predecessors and that the differences between them are profound. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. The concept that President Bush did everything wrong made for great campaign rhetoric but it is no prescription for progress in the Middle East.

I applaud President Obama’s idealism. But to achieve success, idealism must be tempered with reality.

Somehow, we must come together as a country and discard the absolutism of our judgments. Philosophical and policy differences can be a good thing. Openly expressed and debated differences are the substance of democracy. They represent a collective search for answers to difficult challenges.

Neither adulation for President Obama nor contempt for President Bush will further the discussion. Nor will lines in the sand that so many have already drawn.