Truthfully I don't know what to think.
Obama talked about "a Gaza controlled by Hamas with rockets raining down on Israel."
Obama told AIPAC today that "we must isolate Hamas."
Aaron David Miller, a veteran U.S. peace negotiator, said the fighting made "a difficult situation even tougher" and reduced the odds of success to near zero.
But Robert Malley, another former U.S. peace negotiator, said he thought the situation remained so fluid that it was risky to predict what kind of challenge Obama would confront when he took office.
He said there were a number of reasons to be pessimistic about the outcome. The Israeli offensive could, for example, lead to a prolonged occupation of Gaza, though "that is not Israel's first choice," said Malley, now with the International Crisis Group, a conflict-resolution organization in Washington.
On the other hand, he said, the crisis could strengthen the political position of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in national elections Feb. 10. Barak, of the Labor Party, is more moderate than Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, but has been trailing in the polls. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, with the now-ruling Kadima party, also is running.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-us-mideast29-2008dec29,0,487600.story