Disentanglement is going to be difficult politically, the Jewish lobby has been able to take advantage of a substantial portion of the American public which has convinced itself that they will never go to heaven unless they fight on Israel's side in Armageddon. In fact, their going to heaven depends on there being an Armageddon. And in an election year, no matter what Obama does, or how it turns out, the Right will squeal like little piggies in self-righteous indignation and patriotic and religious outrage.

And of course, Israel's opponents in the middle east aren't exactly paragons of rational, secular thinking or democratic values. It's hard to root for them, even if god, in his infinite wisdom, gave them most of the petroleum on the planet.

Trying to steer a middle course through this minefield is hard enough without our pals in Tel Aviv metaphorically yelling out to all the patrons of their local biker bar "My friend Uncle Sam here can whip anybody in this joint."