The Road Map???

As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon struggles to save something of his withdraw plan, Kofi Annan has called on parties to respect the Road Map outlined by President Bush a few ages ago. Looking at the timeline was interesting - had it worked, we would have a Palestinian state by now. Unfortunately, President Bush really didn't care enough to take the highly proactive steps necessary to force anything through, and even then I was pessimistic about whether it would work. It's tempting to point out, however, that Bush's general "stay the course" mentality has not been even rhetorically evident in his approach to Israeli-Palestinian issues, which he ignored for the first year or more of his administration. And while one can find policy-oriented explanations for his approach at different points during the past three years, the complete lack of consistency seems to indicate that here as in so many other areas the White House is adrift when easy options do not materialize.