By E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The Obama administration, we were told, would practice diplomacy that's "tough but smart." If only: A better description, based on what's unfolded so far, would be inept and incompetent, especially in the Middle East.

The administration wanted to weaken Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Instead, it succeeded in doing the opposite and making meaningful negotiations even more remote.

Washington's demand of a hard freeze on Israeli settlements encouraged Israelis to rally 'round Netanyahu's government. This gave the Palestinians an alibi for digging in their heels while supposedly waiting for the Israelis to act.

Daniel Levy, a veteran Israeli peace negotiator now at the Century Foundation in Washington, summed up the administration's efforts in recent days as "amateur night at the Apollo Theater." He said the administration did not game out the consequences of its demands on the parties -- and then flinched.

This is of a piece with the administration's other dubious moves. Obama, still dreaming of "engagement" with the Iranians, has said virtually nothing meaningful in support of the growing domestic resistance to the Iranian regime. In pulling the plug on the missile-defense plan in Europe, he stiffed the Poles and Czechs, once against sending the message that the U.S. is an unrealiable ally -- no doubt reinforcing the Pakistanis in that regard.

Many on the left apparently believed that simply getting rid of George Bush would transform our international relations. But American interests haven't changed. And the perceived interests of our adversaries haven't changed. What's different now is that our adversaries look at this fumbling and see opportunity. Sooner or later, a price will be paid for the administration's diplomatic malpractice.