Since becoming President, summers have not been very kind to George Bush, and this year is no exception. Bush’s approval ratings are at their lowest. His domestic agenda has all but collapsed. His Vice President, Attorney General and several key members of his staff are under attack from Congress and the media. And his foreign policy, especially the misadventure in Iraq, is in disarray. The remainder of this summer promises to be long, hot, and difficult. But then, this has come to be a pattern.

On the heels of his upbeat mid-summer progress report on Iraq, President Bush delivered an equally fanciful account of his Administration’s efforts to achieve a “two-state” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was the speech the President had been expected to give a few weeks ago on the fifth anniversary of his “two-state vision” speech. And because it bore no relation to reality, it was the speech I feared he would give.

It was five years ago that President George W. Bush delivered the speech that outlined his “vision” for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There had been some speculation that the President would mark the occasion by reprising his “vision” speech.