Netanyahu is dealing with a US political landscape that has also changed considerably in the intervening years, in ways he may not fully appreciate...

Politico/ here

"... At this point, a critical part of U.S. thinking about the way forward in the Mideast revolves around questions about Netanyahu himself, and specifically whether the “pragmatic Bibi” remembered by U.S. officials who dealt with him during his first tour as prime minister still exists.
..... But, Ross recounts, he argued for a different approach: “I had no illusions about Bibi, but also believed we could not wish Bibi away... It was important, I argued, not to lose sight of who Bibi was and what he wanted. He saw himself in historic, grandiose terms.... If we could demonstrate that we were making every effort to work with him, we would have a basis for taking him on later if he did not deliver. Better to let him fail than to cut him off—allowing him to say that we were unfairly pressuring Israel, and making failure a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
In his second incarnation as Israeli prime minister, however, Netanyahu is operating in an Israeli political landscape grown even more reluctant of making the concessions that may be necessary to achieve a peace agreement than it was in the late 1990s.
At the same time, in the intervening years, the U.S. political landscape has also changed considerably from when Netanyahu last dealt with Bill Clinton in ways Netanyahu may not fully appreciate. Widespread doubts about the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and ambivalence about the fact that the U.S. has some 200,000 troops deployed there and in Afghanistan have made many skeptical of protracted and murky military engagements..........
Now, Rothkopf said, Netanyahu “is facing strong headwinds from forces around world and around the Democratic mainstream establishment that Israel is not perceived as being that interested in peace and is seen as not being constructive. As a result, there’s greater tension now between the U.S. and Israel than there has ever been.” ......
Former Bush administration NSC Middle East adviser Elliot Abrams believes the Obama administration’s tough love approach on the settlements issue and toward Netanyahu personally has backfired, an argument taken up in recent weeks by many Republican critics of Obama. Abrams also wonders who the real pragmatist is...." (more)