The Washington Post reports:

In briefing reporters, [George] Mitchell said one thing he learned from studying previous U.S.-mediated Middle East peace efforts is that “at least in a couple of instances, time ran out.”

Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush began serious pushes for peace with a year left in office. Clinton was still attempting to forge a deal as a lame duck.

It is hard to believe Mitchell actually studied past negotiations. Didn’t he pick up on the many lessons to be learned — the inadvisability of preconditions, for example? The indispensible element of a warm and robust U.S.-Israeli relationship? And it’s mind-boggling that the man who insisted on a one-year deadline for talks now tells us that the problem in past negotiations was a lack of time.

Now, I certainly don’t subscribe to the “not enough time” argument, but he does. The U.S.-Israeli relationship is severely hampered by a president unsympathetic, if not downright hostile, to the Jewish state. But Mitchell has certainly done his part. I’d be hard pressed to think of a more foolish Middle East negotiator.