Mondoweiss - Peter Beinart is upfront about the centrality of Jewish identity to Obama's presidency in his new book on the Crisis of Zionism. From this reported excerpt in Daily Beast, the theme is liberal Zionists versus rightwing Zionists. Obama came out of the former community and betrayed it in his first term. Obama underestimated the strength of what his former aide (and an eternal presence at the White House) Dennis Ross represented: Netanyahu and his ties into the rightwing Jewish community, the Israel lobby's man in the American government.

Haaretz - Last week I published an article in Haaretz which stated that Dennis Ross, who had left the White House in November after more than two years as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region, is still advising President Barack Obama even in his old-new position as a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.