Jeningrad?

The Boss is out, and he's been sniffing around his old haunts. After a three hour tour of Ramallah, he spoke with Western news agencies, and told CNN that "Jenin has turned into Jeningrad". OK, Arafat, we know you have delusions of grandeur... but seriously, Jeningrad?

Arafat's idea of media relations aside, it's encouraging to see him out, and things back to normal. Normal, I should clarify, involves a lot of name calling between Sharon and Arafat. Arafat calls the Nativity Church siege a "religious crime"; Sharon says peace is not possible with Arafat and threatens to lock him out of the West Bank if he ever leaves. Arafat calls the Israeli government terrorists, Nazis and racists. Meanwhile, Colin Powell, who is proving to be the most admirable man in this whole mess, invites both sides to a summer conference, which I must say sounds disturbingly similar to Camp David II of just two years ago. This time the stakes will be much lower, of course, and I'm especially glad that Bush and Powell - unlike Clinton - are bringing Europe, Russia, and the U.N. into the mix, which gives it much more credibility in the eyes of the Arabs. This move was especially well timed - it kept Congress' reprehensible pro-Israel bill off the front pages, hopefully forestalling anti-American riots and suchlike.

Even the New York Times understands the immaturity of the legislative action:

Even after appeals to delay the resolutions, members of Congress both parties rushed to assert their solidarity with Israel, which has strong support from two influential political constituencies, Jewish Democrats and Christian conservatives. Their actions served to complicate the already delicate diplomacy that Mr. Bush is trying to conduct to end the violence and restart negotiations. In emotional debate, House members and Senate members, from the left and from the right, repeatedly branded Mr. Arafat a "terrorist" and a "despot." A minority of lawmakers expressed reservations about the policies of Mr. Sharon.

The disparity between the actions of the administration and the legislature really underscore the professionalism of the Bush administration - he isn't grandstanding for votes, and even though he's no foreign-policy president he understands that there are bigger issues at stake and delegates authority to those who know what they're doing. This may seem like no small thing, but it's a sharp divergence from the Clinton White House. For a president who was supposed to be despised worldwide, Bush has done a lot to salvage his image.