So far not too bad.
- He did not free Pollard.
- He didn't offer to give Israel extra free money or guns.
- He and Natanyahu managed to conceal their true feelings about each other.
- BHO's speech to the "youth group" was very skilled and the reaction both positive and negative was useful.
- He apparently did not accept Israeli instruction on Iran and Syria.
- His speeches in Israel were simple traditional drivel about friendship, eternal friendship and more eternal friendship.
- His visit to Abbas was much the same thing.
One thing about the press chatter around this trip that concerns me is the renewed talk of Jordan's instability, deep problems, etc. I don't see it. Jordan has always been a delicately balanced place. Israelis for many decades "beat the drum" for the idea that the Hashemite monarchy would soon disappear. They stopped that after Jordan made peace with them. Have their allies in the press now started this again? Abdullah is a very Western, modern, man who wants to bring the country to a consititutional monarchy that would be a true parliamentary democracy. He wants to do that without surrendering the country to the Islamists. What part of that does the media not like? pl
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/21/politics/obama-mideast-visit/?hpt=wo_c1
