Eight years ago, when many in the US thought that it really didn't matter who was president and that the country could run on automatic pilot, George Bush was elected president. At the time, he was thought to have had the greatest foreign-policy team of all time. Colin Powell. Dick Cheney. Condoleezza Rice. Incredible credentials. Yet, over the last eight years, to describe President Bush's foreign-policy as being a disaster is simply being kind. He's made little or no progress in the Middle East. As a matter of fact, some may suggest that is actually taken the peace process backwards 5-10 years.

On January 20, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have to hit the ground running. The lack of American leadership is palpable in the world. Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip for the last four days. Israel did this in retaliation to multiple rocket attacks into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. This is a typical scenario. Israel takes a pounding then it disproportionately retaliates. The retaliation causes an international outcry. Sometime thereafter Israel stops the offensive and we go back to square one. Soon to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has to break the cycle.

Personally, I think it is important that we support Israel. On the other hand, the Palestinians are living in abhorrent conditions. Their living standard must be raised. If you have something to live for, then you are less likely to want to turn yourself into a human bomb. Hillary Clinton must find a balance that has escaped George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and her husband, Bill Clinton. She must find a way to get all the parties involved to begin to discuss the problem and to find a solution. This would include Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. (Some of these Arab countries have treated the Palestinians like unwanted stepchildren.)

From political standpoint, this is a huge time bomb. If Barack Obama spends a lot of political capital early in his presidency on trying to fix the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and can't find a solution then that will hurt some of his domestic agenda. On the other hand, we have seen what eight years of neglect will do. On the surface, this seems to be a lose-lose proposition. But, being an optimist, I think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will need to balance this with the many all the crises around the world. We do need to defeat Al Qaeda. We do need to do better in Afghanistan and make it a functioning nation. We need to help Pakistan, not only in its relationship to India, but also in its relationship to Afghanistan. We need to get out of Iraq. We need to develop a presence in Africa. We need to support and bolster Africa's attempt to try to control some of its violence with in its own continent (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Darfur for come to mind). As a nation, we must not ignore the problems of South America and Central America. The growing challenges of Asia which include the vulnerability of some Asian countries to Al Qaeda may be as daunting as any challenge that I've yet mentioned. I have to make a special mention of North Korea since it was an original member of the axis of evil.

If history tells us anything, it shows us 2 paths which have not led to a settlement of this long conflict. The first path, was taken by President Clinton which was to wait to the end of his presidency than the throw his whole weight behind the peace process. He was a lame duck and because of that could not get an agreement. Then there is the President Bush way -- ignore the problem and hope it will go away. This didn't work either. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton must choose a different path. It is time for Hillary Clinton to be great.