Is American Mideast Policy Too Ambitious?

During my visit to Beirut, I spoke with a local politician who explained the problems with both Obama's "let's make a deal" foreign policy and Bush's "clean break" policy.

A memorable line from this visit to Beirut. A local politician with wide experience both of the region and the United States offered this sardonic explanation of the problems with both the Obama administration's "let's make a deal" foreign policy and the Bush administration's "clean break" policy:

You Americans like to do your politics wholesale. Make a big deal, settle all major issues, open a billion dollar line of credit, go into business together for the long term. We prefer to do business retail: You want this item, here's the price. Oh you want that one too? OK, here's the price for that. And tomorrow - there will be a different customer in the store, and we will sell something else to him.