bring in the former national security council director for iran and the persian gulf, hillary mann leverettht. >> thank you for having me. >> now, was this just a photo-op at the waldorf today or was this a real restart of the process? >> i think this was more than a photo-op. i think this was -- this was the power of obama, his compelling rhetoric, his strategic use of symbols, the media communication. this was the power of obama to try to bring people forward, bring them together. i think it was a good start. that said, though, there are serious flaws in the strategy, in the policy that i think may prevent president obama from really achieving an israeli/palestinian and broader arab/israeli settlement. >> now, the president's been criticized for taking on too much too soon. why is the president pushing this perennial problem that no one's ever made real progress on while he's got health care reform in front of him, he has to deal with troop levels in afghanistan and other urgent issues. why now on this one? >> well, i think that president obama does really understand the middle east. i th