“Governing is about choosing. And a much-diminished American president has made his choice. Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking isn’t and shouldn’t be Barack Obama’s top priority. Getting reelected is. And that means carefully husbanding his eroding political currency and expending it on matters domestic and economic. Despite all the kerfuffle at the United Nations this week, the last thing he needs to do is pick an unproductive fight with Israel or the Republicans on an Israeli-Palestinian peace process that has been dead for some time now.

The ‘sky is falling’ crowd bemoaning the loss of American influence on the peace process ought to stop whining. There’s no deal now that anyone can broker. The president is right to protect his political flanks. This isn’t cheap or dirty politics; it’s smart. If Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas presents a bid for U.N. membership in the Security Council this week or next month, Obama should veto it and sleep well that night.”

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