""The reason why you articulate a vision is to give people inside the Palestinian territories who don't want violence and who don't want to destroy Israel a chance to be for something." (Bush)
Until recently, Bush did not pretend that diplomacy was his thing. Talk to foreign leaders and officials or U.S. diplomats who have observed Bush in negotiating sessions, and you get a picture of a president who disdains bargaining and the essence of give-and-take.
"He is certainly smart enough to do it," says one person who has worked with Bush in such situations. "He would always get the first point across. But when there was pushing back, he didn't follow up with the rest of the argument or proposal that had been prepared. He just seemed not to care enough to do it."
Bush encountered such pushback from the Saudis and other Gulf Arabs on his Middle East peace tour this month, according to a variety of diplomatic sources. Open skepticism greeted his appeals to "moderate" Arab states to provide the political and financial support that might enable Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to move forward on peace. " Jim Hoagland
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Ahhh! Once again we have an exposition of the essential problem with the president. He does not see the need to bargain with people. He has a business mentality. In other words, if you are stronger than your interlocutor, and they are in difficulty, then you don't bargain. You dictate the terms of compliance.
The United States is the strongest country in the world at the moment, so he does not think he should bargain. Unfortunately, the "little people" have not cooperated and will not in the Middle East.
He is going back in May? He should be prepared for more non-compliance with his will. pl
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502596.html
