former Israeli deputy foreign minister, was not alone in assessing the damage suffered by Obama. “He forgot that he is the US president, and that every action of his, even killing a fly, is scrutinised by billions of eyes and every word of his is weighed and has an effect. This way, at the end of a wasted year and without any bad intentions, his statements inflicted another blow on the chances of promoting something in our region.”

The lesson that Obama could not even move an ally and dependent state like Israel to submit to an American policy agenda on an issue deemed critical by the US president himself was not lost on America’s adversaries.

The shortcomings of the administration on the settlement freeze during its first year ina 10-member leadership team. It ranged from liberals like Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, to moderates like West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Virginia's Mark Warner.

Noticeably absent: a leader of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the upcoming two-year political cycle, which is stacked against the party.

Democrats and independents backing them will have to defend 25 seats, compared with just eight Republican ones, and many of the Democrats will be running in states that Trump carried easily like North Dakota, Montana and West Virginia.

Both parties picked their leaders following an election that saw the Republican Trump unexpectedly capture the White House and the GOP suffer only minor losses while retaining House and Senate control.

Yet even as both parties agree that voters were demanding