Obama's Middle East Welcome

Time: As President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy held talks with Egyptian leaders across town on Wednesday, students at Cairo University were offering up their views of the new American President — and the very mention of his name brought warm smiles and delight in their eyes. They like Obama. Even Omar Youssef, 20, who earlier this month had joined angry protests, tinged with anti-American sentiment, against Israel's war in Gaza, is impressed by what he's heard about Obama thus far. "He's a man of diplomacy and speaks well," Youssef explains, standing around the corner from Egyptian security vehicles crammed with riot police in case more protests erupt. "Bush, Arab people hate him. But the world needs a man like Obama." (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration.)

What George Mitchell, Obama's Mideast peacemaker, brings to the table:

For Obama Everything's on the Front Burner

Why do reporters and pundits keep insisting that Obama will have such and such, pick your choice, on the front burner? Everything is going to be on the front burner. He'll have a big enough staff, one that's bright and efficient. Why can't the Obama administration pay attention to all of it at once?

Politico: Israel’s continuing attacks on Gaza serve as a reminder that President-elect Barack Obama and his nominee to be secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will not get to choose the world they inherit Jan. 20.

The incoming administration had planned to focus on the economic crisis and recalibrating U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan in its early months — but the Israeli assault on Hamas may have instantly changed that calculus.

"For all the talk of putting the [Middle East] conflict on the back burner, it's going force itself onto the front burner," said Daniel Levy, a fellow at the New America Foundation. Levy said that if the conflict in Gaza is still ongoing when Obama takes office, he will face regional and international pressure to broker a settlement.

"It could involve the administration very early,” Levy said.

Start the Prayers for Obama

If you're a religious sort, get on it. Break out the prayers. If you're a spiritual person, start the positive thinking, only good thoughts. If you don't go for any of that, then hope and good wishes will do.

Israel News: U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama's upcoming trip to Israel and the West Bank has raised serious security concerns among American officials, the U.S.-based news website Drudge Report reported Friday.

Obama was scheduled to visit Israel and the West Bank in the coming days as part of a swing through the Middle East, Palestinian and Israeli officials said earlier this week.

Obama will be in Israel on July 22 and 23 and hold talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said.

Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said Obama would also meet President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah next Wednesday