{"product_id":"shattered-hopes-2","title":"Shattered Hopes","description":"President Barack Obama's first trip abroad in his second term took him  to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, where he despondently admitted  to those waiting for words of encouragement, \"It is a hard slog to work  through all of these issues.\" Contrast this gloomy assessment with  Obama's optimism on the second day of his first term, when he appointed  former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as his special envoy for  Middle East peace, boldly asserting that his administration would  \"actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the  Palestinians.\" How is it that Obama's active and aggressive search for  progress has become mired in the status quo?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWriter and political  analyst Josh Ruebner charts Obama's journey from optimism to  frustration in the first hard-hitting investigation into why the  president failed to make any progress on this critical issue, and how  his unwillingness to challenge the Israel lobby has shattered hopes for  peace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in a clear and accessible style by the advocacy  director of a national peace organization and former Middle East analyst  for the Congressional Research Service, \u003ci\u003eShattered Hopes\u003c\/i\u003e offers  an informed history of the Obama administration's policies and maps out  a true path forward for the United States to help achieve  Israeli-Palestinian peace.","brand":"Verso Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Product","offer_id":54250375446872,"sku":"9781781685556","price":19.48,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781781685556__67b31b6a426e9.jpg?v=1741151021","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/shattered-hopes-2","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}