President Barack Obama's first trip abroad in his second term took him to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, where he despondently admitted to those waiting for words of encouragement, "It is a hard slog to work through all of these issues." Contrast this gloomy assessment with Obama's optimism on the second day of his first term, when he appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as his special envoy for Middle East peace, boldly asserting that his administration would "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians." How is it that Obama's...