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By Ira Sharkansky
 JERUSALEM, Oct. 9 — Barack Obama won the most powerful office in the world, along the way promising widespread changes that magnified expectations.
Now he has won the most prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The Committee has cited him for "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples."
Extraordinary efforts there have been. The question is whether they have excited expectations beyond capacity.
I remember a teacher telling me that effort is fine, but it is accomplishment that pays the bills. Will one of the adversaries who have declined his efforts now be willing to give him what he wants?
On the same day as the announcement of the Nobel, there appeared two articles in respected journals that lambaste him for naivite and hubris.
The Economist noted that on the less than hot button issue of the Olympics, Obama put his reputation on the line by a high profile trip to Copenhagen, along with his wife, and saw Rio get the nod over Chicago.
The journal also joined those noting that Afghanistan is not going well. The President finds himself in squabbles not only involving Taliban and al Qaeda, but also his lead general, Vice President, Congressional Democrats and Republicans, plus talk show vipers smelling his embarrassment.
On his primary domestic initiative, the Administration friendly Washington Post headlines a dirty fight between a health insurance company and a prominent hospital, each accusing the other of putting profit ahead of patient care. Sick people who thought themselves insured are in the middle, being threatened with bills they cannot pay.
Will this help the President advance his initiative, or does it point to the fatal illness of profit making firms too heavily involved in health care?
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Commentators on one of Israel's most prominent news programs ridiculed the President for not getting the message about the Middle East. His point man has arrived on another trip to the region, seemingly seeking the same concessions that Israeli leaders have already rejected.
The major headline in Ha'aretz notes that the White House is "furious over Israeli incitement against President Barack Obama."
Is this a threat meant to force Israel into changing its decision about a settlement freeze, with or without parallel concessions from the Arab side?
The Nobel will add to the pressure. Must Jerusalem be behind Oslo in recognizing the President's genius?
Within two hours of the prize announcement, the Chair of the Knesset warned that it should not tempt the United States to try imposing its will.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said once again that a peace agreement is not in the cards this year, or as far into the future as he can see. He is urging that Israel lower its diplomatic emphasis on the hopeless issue of Palestinian, and downsize its dependence on the United States.
It is not easy to read Lieberman. We know what he says, but it is not clear how central he is to the Netanyahu government. The Prime Minister and Defense Minister share the most serious work of diplomacy, while Lieberman visits low priority places in Africa and Latin America, speaks apocalyptically at home, and attracts criticism for what he says.
The Palestinian leadership is not helping the American president by piling on against Israel for threatening al Aqsa Mosque.
It is hard to see any result from this other than a message from Netanyahu (either overtly or by a prominent silence) that they can wait for serious peace talks.
Recent events warn that Israel and Palestine may be on the edge of a fresh intifada. The White House should notice, and pause to see if violence develops or cools before unwrapping the next efforts to fix a place even more complex than the International Olympic Committee.
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