Voting the Mideast   Neither President Can Solve This Conflict
Except for a select minority of people, very few Americans
actually base their choice for president on a candidate’s record
or rhetoric regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As one
of the few who heavily weight these factors, I have to say that
this year I am joining almost everyone else and voting for a
swift economic recovery. It's not that financial issues have
trumped everything else in my life, but after four years of a
Barack Obama presidency, I no longer believe the American
president—whoever that may be—is capable of making the type of
impact necessary for real change on this issue.  I had high
hopes for Barack Obama. His failures over this issue are not
entirely his fault, but where it counted, Obama has dropped the
ball on Israel-Palestine. Even in moments of profound
opportunity, such as the chance to support—or at least not
fight—the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations, Obama
made the type of decisions that caused me