Bush's domestic politics and the pro-Israeli tilt

How are Americans to understand President Bush's kowtowing to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon?

Told to withdraw Israeli forces from the West Bank "without delay," Sharon refused. As Israel reduced the Jenin refugee camp to rubble using U.S.-supplied arms, Bush praised him as a "man of peace." The man of peace now wants to dictate the composition of a U.N. fact-finding mission, approved with U.S. support, into Jenin.

As former President Carter pointed out Sunday, presidents don't just spin their wheels. Presidents have power levers. In the case of Israel, said Carter, the levers are two: We provide $10 million per day in aid to Israel; we supply Israel weapons for defensive purposes only, not for attacks on refugees.

Bush is having a rocky time. He rides high approval ratings because of Sept. 11, but faced with the complexity of Middle East politics, he is at sea. A man of domestic politics, he founders in the world arena, where America has the reputation of being a superpower.

Bush's instinct from the beginning was to pull back from world affairs. Just as he would be the anti-Clinton, he would be the anti-Bush I. Those two presidents were too involved in the world, too busy with alliances, agencies, treaties and all those things that tie a good Texan down.