A hard-liner can often do what someone else can't. For instance, back in the early '70s the US and China were arch enemies. After Korea, endless threats to that source of cheap labor Formosa, and Vietnam neither of us had any patience with the other.

Nixon had made his reputation as a hard-line anti-communist. He had hounded people, staged the "kitchen debate" with Kruschev and in general played the tough guy.

The American public wouldn't have trust anyone else to improve relations with China. Any Democrat would have been accused of pandering and selling out. The Republicans would have had a fit.

It could have been the same with Reagan and SALT. Reagan could have made significant and permanent changes in the US-Soviet nuclear arms arsenals and almost did. He chickened out at the last minute but could have made the deal. Dukakis could not have negotiated at the same level without a major Republican meltdown.

Netanyahu could come to an accommodation where someone else might not be able to "sell" it. That isn't to say he will.

Arf