When Mughniyeh was killed in Damascus on the same day that Brzezinski was there talking about how the US and Syria have a shared interest in regional stability - well, some very good Syria experts thought that Obama would have to tone down his Anti-US Global Apology Tour "dialogue" promises. The odds for a recalculation are not particularly promising, since it appears that Obama doesn't have the first clue about the Syria-Lebanon situation:

Someone got Barak Obama to comment on Lebanon. While he spoke against Syrian and Iranian meddling, and urged the disarming of Hizbullah, he also gave us this gem: "Washington musts rectify the wrong policy of President George Bush in Lebanon and resort to an efficient and permanent diplomacy, rather than empty slogans," he added. He also said that the US must cooperate with its European and Arab allies to sponsor an inter-Lebanese consensus on a stable and democratic Lebanon. Readers of this blog will find this painfully hilarious, and possibly indicative of Obama's ignorance of the situation in Lebanon. I don't expect the presidential hopeful to read Lebanese news every day, but really, the situation has gotten so repetitive that it should be clear that the above statement is at best moronic. What kind of diplomacy that has not been tried before by the "Europeans and Arab allies" will help Lebanon? I am not going to defend the Bush administration's policy in Lebanon. It may reek of "empty slogans" at times, but how does talking to criminals create solutions? And pray explain how supporting the Hariri tribunal, as Obama said he does, can be reconciled with chatting up the ones who killed him?

That's from an actual foreign policy expert who actually reads and writes things about Lebanon and Syria. And yet his reasoning doesn't appear to have penetrated the left's ostensibly fact-obsessed reality-based community (weird, that). And both sides declaring themselves ready for all out civil war, engagement and diplomacy are working out great in Lebanon. More non-military hope and change will definitely solve the problem.

References:
* Responses to "Imad Mughniyah is dead" [David Schenker]
* Obama, Lebanon and the myth of change [From Beirut To The Beltway]
* March 14 puts war on the table [From Beirut To The Beltway]
* Meanwhile, Lebanon Is Kind Of Going To Hell - Good Job, State Department! [MR]

Previously:
* Hezbollah: Yeah, We're Definitely Going To Start Another War
* Lebanon On Brink Of Civil War (Plus: State Department Prepares To Import Same Strategy To West Bank)
* State Department Strategy Of Shielding Hezbollah During Lebanon II Working Out Great As Presidential Elections Postponed Again