What's Wrong with U.S. Policy in the Mideast?

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week, Mitt Romney argues that America needs  “a new strategy toward the Middle East.”
 
Why does our current approach need a facelift? Because, he writes, President Obama’s weak leadership  -- from “misapplying” our values abroad to “stepping away from our allies” --  has “heightened the prospect of conflict and instability” in the region.
 
Romney’s perfect policy: Get rid of the “daylight” between the United States and Israel, make sure Iranian ayatollahs believe us when we say we won’t tolerate Iranian nuclear capability, and use soft power to “encourage liberty and opportunity” abroad.
 
On the latest episode of The Sidebar, New America’s weekly news podcast, Future Tense Fellow Romesh Ratnesar also explores how U.S. strategy could change in the Middle East post-election. But Ratnesar cites a distinct U.S. policy flop that Romney fails to mention in his op-ed:    
 
“The biggest deficiency in our policy toward the Middle East and our strategy is the failure to make headway on the Israeli Palestinian issue, “ says Ratnesar, the deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. “[That issue] ultimately must be solved before you can establish a lasting stability there and before we can even begin to think that the kind of hostility toward the United States and West in general can be extinguished.”
 
Listen to the full podcast here.