The King of Wishful Thinking

The Israeli's love Bush like the Germans love David Hasselhof, giving him a robe with his name embroidered in gold at his hotel room, and turning off the lights so he can get a good view of the sunrise. Palestinians aren't quite so enamored, especially after Bush made another trademark remark making light of suffering in a joke about checkpoints.

He declared that he believes there will be a peace treaty signed while he is still president, and I sincerely wish him the best in that, but more likely it is just wishful thinking hoping for something to give him a legacy other than Iraq and Katrina.

There were a few encouraging things to come out of his visit to the region. He has called for a compensation fund for the Palestinian refugees that were displaced when Israel was created. He also has made the politically dangerous argument that Israel should stop building settlements in Palestinian land, which he should get some credit for even though he didn't mention East Jerusalem. While it is good that he pushes for a Palestinian state, it is puzzling that he insisted it should be contiguous, unless he has some idea of how he will join Gaza and the West Bank.