The list goes on. In the Mideast, it is by now almost certain that the "Annapolis process" launched last fall by Bush and Rice—intended to produce a Palestinian state—will achieve at most a broad framework, especially now that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to resign. Explosive issues that doomed the decade-long Oslo peace process remain to be brokered by Washington and negotiated by "two" sides that are increasingly fractured, particularly with the Palestinians split hopelessly between Fatah and Hamas. The Israelis, meanwhile, are dabbling with Bashar Assad of Syria as part of a complicated strategy to isolate Iran. Lifetimes have been spent trying to get to the bottom of these issues. Four months is just not enough.

And these are just the most immediate crises. McCain has made the threat of Islamist extremism his main template for foreign policy, calling it the "transcendental challenge" of the 21st Century. But at least he is steeped in all these other issues; in the hands of an amateur, such a simplistic idea of the world could be a dangerous thing. Beyond that, says Zelikow, "we don't have a good, well-understood template for interpreting and guiding our policies. ... I don't think the Bush administration has successfully put in place an overarching sense of America's purpose in the world." (Even many alumnae of the Bush administration, like Zelikow, believe that the Bush's pro-democracy doctrine has not sufficed). Asked what he would focus on if he were tutoring Palin, Zelikow said: "There are three things. One, ongoing wars. You just gotta do that. Two, is major global trends like energy, the environment, and tensions of globalization confronting self-determination—do countries want to join the world or fortify against it? And third, you've to prepare her for trivia questions that some reporters will want to throw at her. It will be global "Jeopardy," the vice presidential edition."

Here's wishing Sarah Palin the best of luck, and John McCain the best of health.

© 2008