The Juggler-In-Chief
CBS News reporter Charles Wolfson is a former Tel Aviv bureau chief for CBS News. He now covers the State Department.
It is a good thing President Bush got his vacation in when he did. Since his return to Washington, the foreign policy side of his agenda has become more troublesome. Any of the top items constitutes a major problem all by itself.
Iran
Iran has answered the United Nation's Security Council demand that it stop its uranium enrichment and other related activities with an unsurprising move: an offer to hold "serious" talks on all aspects of its nuclear program. Strictly speaking, this does not satisfy the Security Council's demands. And it's certainly not acceptable to the Bush administration.
"It really is a test for the council and we will see how it responds," said John Bolton, the administration's point man at the U.N.
Still, Tehran may have offered enough to drive a wedge between Washington and some of its allies, most of whom are far less willing to employ meaningful sanctions than is the Bush administration.
Lebanon
While Tehran hopes to postpone international action, the opposite is happening with Lebanon. The international community is having problems forming a 15,000-man security force to go into South Lebanon and act — along with the Lebanese army — as a buffer between Hezbollah and Israel.
The process is proving tougher than originally thought, and definitely taking more time than expected. France has balked at taking the lead role, which it earlier had signaled it was willing to do. Now the EU has postponed a meeting on troop contributions until the end of the week, which some American officials read as a less than urgent attitude.
Although there is a fragile truce at the moment, Hezbollah still is armed. The danger now is how to fill the security vacuum south of the Litani river.
"Realistically, up to a point, you will have such a vacuum in Lebanon for the next two, three months," Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special envoy told Reuters.
If either Israel or Hezbollah breaks the cease-fire, the administration could find itself working again just to stop the fighting before the U.N.'s security force is fully in place.
Iraq
Then there is Iraq. Mr. Bush made it abundantly clear in a press conference this week that although his political opponents are calling for withdrawal, he had no intention of pulling American troops out of Iraq because the Iraqis were not yet able to assume the security role.
"And there are a lot of people in the Democrat (sic) party who believe the best course of action is to leave Iraq before the job is done, period, and they're wrong," Mr. Bush said on Monday.
Politicians, foreign policy analysts and journalists continue to argue whether Iraqis are now involved in a civil war or merely in a period of sectarian strife. How Iraqi politicians deal with this question may have a lot to do with the future success of Mr. Bush's freedom agenda. And not just for his goal to bring democracy to Iraq, but also to other states in the Middle East.
"These are challenging times, and they're difficult times, and they're straining the psyche of our country," Mr. Bush said.
Under the strain of keeping a firm grasp on Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, the juggler-in-chief didn't admit to having his own psyche strained. But he did allow: "Sometimes, I'm frustrated."
By Charles Wolfson