no taxes. first-class air fare covered for strauss-kahn and his family whenever on official business. hotel expenses, as well. now, to an issue on the radar of every u.s. president in modern times, the middle east. as you may have heard, live right here on cnn, president obama reset the course of u.s. policy in the wake of the arab uprisings, of the death of osama bin laden of the new palestinian alliance of the nuclear stand-off with iran. yes, i could go on. mr. obama talked about all oef oes things and one more, the conflict between the palestinians and israel. >> while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear. a viable palestine, a secure israel. the united states believes that negotiations should result in two states with permanent palestinian borders, with