• JERUSALEM (AP) -- President Barack Obama is plunging into the turbulent Middle East on a mission aimed primarily at assuring America's top ally in the region and its friends back home that it will not be forsaken amid bitter domestic political squabbles and budget crises in Washington.
• Obama arrives Wednesday in Israel for his first visit to the country -- and only his second to the Middle East, outside of a quick jaunt to Iraq -- since taking office. He will also be making his first trips as president to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan this week. But on an itinerary laden more with symbolism than substance, an Israel that is increasingly wary of developments in Syria and Iran is Obama's main focus.
• When Air Force One touches down at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, Obama will be met by an Israeli leadership and public anxious to hear the president affirm America's commitment to the security of the Jewish state while standing on their soil.
• Obama sparred frequently with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Palestinian peace process during his first term. And despite public assurances from both sides that relations otherwise remained solid, the president endured four years of criticism from pro-Israel advocates and conservatives in the U.S. and numerous commentators in Israel for not doing enough to back the Mideast's only stable democracy in the face of growing threats to its existence.
• So even though U.S. officials have set expectations low and previewed no significant policy announcements, there is a clear metric to measure the success of Obama's three-day stay in Israel and the West Bank: how much he is able to re

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