Different Agendas Of Netanyahu, Obama

President Barack Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the new leaders of their respective democratic nations, are like two horses bound to a carriage, each pulling in a different direction as it relates to Middle East policy.  For Mr. Netanyahu however, the Middle East is home turf, and any wrong move might have critical if not existential consequences.  For Mr. Obama on the other hand, half the world away, a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution, would bring him and his administration prestige, and perhaps Arab triumphalism, but little more.