Well, why not?  As John McCain tells CBS’ Face the Nation, the entire Middle East strategy has been a “significant failure.”  Al-Qaeda has risen again, notably in eastern Libya but now also in Mali, and the Arab Spring has turned into a nightmare for American interests.  The last American President who even came close to settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing better to do, now that he’s safely secured a second term for Barack Obama, and he still has credibility in the region.

It can’t hurt to try, can it?

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested on Sunday that President Obama should send former President Bill Clinton to lead cease fire talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

“We need a person of enormous prestige and influence to have these parties sit down together as an honest broker,” McCain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. He joked that Clinton would hate him for floating his name for the difficult task.

I’m not being facetious in agreeing with McCain on this suggestion.  The Israelis probably trust Bill Clinton more than they do the current incumbent in the White House, and the Palestinians can’t be terribly impressed with Obama’s assistance the last four years, either.  Putting Clinton in position as the new face in the negotiations could provide both a sense of continuity and a fresh start on the approach.

This does prompt a question, though.  Isn’t there another Clinton that’s supposed to be the official face of American diplomacy these days?  Where is she as the Israeli-Hamas conflict spins out of control, anyway?