Occasionally in years past, I've been know to have a prediliction for trying to decode what's really going on in diplomatic circles and to have a little (emphasis on little) talent at it. I've been seeing some things on this story that have dragged me back in.

The following is basically all just sayin' stuff.

The reporters did a good job in the above of making me feel sorry for Willy Loman Abbas.

I was especially touched by this part, on page two:

“Tonight our schedule is full with the Americans,” Mr. Abbas replied. “They want us to meet, but we don’t, really we don’t want.”

Mr. Larsen asked why he was going then. “I don’t know why really,” Mr. Abbas said, “I am not happy with anybody, not with the Americans, nor the Arabs. I am fed up with all these people and I don’t know what to do when I return back.”

Mr. Abbas has worked hard to counter Hamas’s focus on resistance and instill a political culture of nonviolence among Palestinians after the bloody uprising that began in late 2000. Normality, with a strong security force and developing economy, has started to set in. Mr. Shikaki, the pollster, said that Mr. Abbas arrived at a time when the public was fatigued with violence “so his message fell on fertile ground.” He added that the recent events in Tahrir Square in Cairo also inspired Palestinians.

“The majority believes that if there are peaceful demonstrations, even nonconfrontational ones, this will speed up an ending to the occupation,” he said. “In 20 years, I have never seen that much confidence in the efficacy of nonviolence. I would give him some credit for that change.”

And I thought, maybe naively falling for a narrative, I dunno, but geez I really felt, will some god somewhere bless that man, somebody give him somethin', at least give him a bone.

Just so happens, though, that after reading it on your prompt, I hopped over to foreignpolicy.com to see what they might have, and saw that there is an American president out there willing to sorta somewhat feel his pain:

(and he said that that to blabbermouth bloggers yet.)

I was reminded of what Clinton said at end of his remarks at the Shanksville, PA 9/11 ceremony: Since I am no longer in office, I can do unpopular things.

I was also reminded of seeing this yesterday

Obama re-election campaign defends president’s record on Israel
By Laura Rozen, The Envoy – Tue, Sep 20, 2011

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign began aggressively defending Obama's record of protecting the state of Israel and pro-Israel policies on Tuesday, unveiling a new website and dispatching surrogates to talk to Jewish activists.

The new website--Jewish Americans for Obama--was disclosed Tuesday in a call to Jewish community activists. It features a video testimonial from Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon saying Israel "has never had a better friend than President Obama.".....

but that was just after I finished reading the following, which sounded suspiciously like wink-wink nudge-nudge stuff to me, especially because it was between new buddies of the Libyan project:

....Somewhat incongruously, [incongruous because it was after Sarkozy's speech Wednesday that included a compromise proposal that supposedly "pointedly repudiated Mr. Obama’s approach" ] Mr. Sarkozy visited Mr. Obama’s hotel on Wednesday afternoon for a previously scheduled meeting with the president, and was effusive, in front of the cameras before the meeting, in his praise for Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama, for his part, refused to engage with reporters assembled for the photo op. “Do you support the French one-year timeline?” one reporter asked. Mr. Obama responded, “I already answered a question from you before.”

Another reporter asked Mr. Obama if he agreed with the French position on Palestine. Mr. Obama smiled and replied, “Bonjour.” A third reporter queried if that response constituted a “no comment.” The president’s response: “No comment.”

from Obama Rebuffed as Palestinians Pursue U.N. Seat, by Steven Lee Myers and Helene Cooper, New York Times, Sept. 21.

Again, just sayin'. But I suggest all stay tuned as I think there might still be a fat lady singing in this opera.