Cheat Sheet

Charles Dharapak / AP

Can Barack Obama walk and chew gum at the same time? "For all the talk of putting the [Middle East] conflict on the back burner, it's going to force itself onto the front burner," Daniel Levy, a fellow at the New America Foundation, tells Politico. Already tasked with fixing the economy, Obama “will face regional and international pressure to broker a [Middle East peace] settlement.” But it’s unclear what course Obama will take. During the campaign, he seemed to give his approval to strikes like the ones Israel is conducting, but for the most part, his views remain opaque. He has so far remained mum on the Gaza operation, deferring to President Bush. The operation is likely, however, to “complicate his approach to a region that he had clearly hoped to keep low on his to-do list for awhile.”