Obama team creating traffic jam in Israel

Obama team creating traffic jam in Israel

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is greeted in Jerusalem Monday by Israeli President Shimon Peres.

By Lior Mizrahi, Getty Images

During the last months of George W. Bush's administration, the State Department and the president himself tried valiantly to help make peace in the Middle East.
President Obama's team might not think they have only months left in office, but their attention toward Israel is definitely on an uptick.

Witness the traffic jam the administration is creating in Jerusalem: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is there today, on the last leg of an exhausting trip that has taken her to France, Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Egypt.

She's not alone. National security adviser Tom Donilon was there over the weekend, meeting with many of the same Israeli officials on Clinton's itinerary. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due there soon.

And not to be outdone, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney is scheduled to be heading there later this month.

Whether all this activity adds up to progress on the peace agenda remains very much in doubt. There has been little of that during the Obama administration. In fact, Clinton's trip was her first to Israel in 22 months. Her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, took nearly two dozen trips there in pursuit of peace.

Clinton's agenda is broader. In meetings today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, she is discussing the civil war in Syria, the nuclear program in Iran and the recent political changes in Egypt, her last stop.

"It is a time of uncertainty but also of opportunity," Clinton said today. "It is a chance to advance our shared goal of security, stability, peace, and democracy, along with prosperity for the millions of people in this region who have yet to see a better future."

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