The Incredible Shrinking Agenda

As President Bush kicks off what is a widely regarded as a futile trip to the Middle East, he's redefining his goals on the fly.

Bush, who as recently as a week ago was promising a comprehensive peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians before the end of the year, is now describing a more modest goal: a shared vision of what a Palestinian state would look like.

Jonathan Finer and Michael Abramowitz noted in The Washington Post yesterday that Bush was "already scaling back" his ambitions for a peace accord, "saying now it may be possible to set only the 'definition' of a Palestinian state by the time he leaves office."

That earned Finer and Abramowitz a scathing response from the White House press office, ostensibly "setting the record straight" and insisting that Bush has been "consistently focused on defining a Palestinian state."

But unless you consider agreement on a "vision of a two-state solution" tantamount to a "peace treaty," then Bush's own words define a retreat.

Here, for instance, is Bush speaking at his Annapolis peace summit in November: "In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, we agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception, as specified in previous agreements.

"We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008."

Here's Bush as recently as last week -- on Jan. 2-- talking to journalists from the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot: "I believe -- to answer your question -- yes, there will be a comprehensive peace signed by the end of this year, because if they're committed, like they say they are -- and I believe they are, and I believe their people -- the majority of the people, want there to be peace -- now is the time to move."

But sometime in the subsequent two days, Bush apparently decided -- or was told -- that he needed to stop promising quite so much. Here he is on Jan. 4 talking to a journalist from Israel's Channel 2 News:

Q: "Why do you believe that you can reach peace in 12 months, when it hasn't been attainable in the seven years of your presidency -- and long before that?"

Bush: "I think we can reach a vision of what a Palestinian state would look like. But I have made it abundantly clear that the existence of a state will be subject to the obligations in the road map. And so the goal is to have something other than just verbs -- words. In other words, here's what a state will look like. . . .

"And so I'm optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state defined. In other words, negotiations on borders and right of return and these different issues can be settled. . . . "