Middle East Speech

I just listened to the President's Middle East speech from the State Department. I suspect he will be faulted on all sides, as usual--particularly because it's such an incredibly fraught and tricky situation that there are no ready, one-size-fits-all answers; and because this country can no longer step in and solve other people's problems. Obama rightly defers to the people of each country to resolve their own issues. He did, however, in this speech, come up with a clear statement of what America does, and does not support, and of the values our policy should be guided by. I was particularly glad that he made a point of insisting on the rights of women, and that he addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with both forthrightness and sympathy, and with an emphasis on the need for proactive compromise on both sides.

We can now expect the pundits to carry on interminably, until they find something else to argue about.