Obama plans to announce the selection of former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) as Middle East envoy, and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke as envoy for Afghanistan, Pakistan "and related matters," sources close to the administration said.

Mitchell, who is expected to travel to the region almost immediately upon taking the post, will be charged with restarting the Middle East peace process after the three weeks of violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

If the Post is correct in this report, we might hope for a more even-handed and less obstructionist American involvement in the Middle East. That would be wonderful for the world, a great way to strike at bin Laden et. al., and a big change of direction for the great ship of foreign policy.

Apparently, however, not everyone got the Change memo.

“Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “But the fact is, American policy in the Middle East hasn’t been ‘even handed’ — it has been supportive of Israel when it felt Israel needed critical U.S. support.

“So I’m concerned,” Foxman continued. “I’m not sure the situation requires that kind of approach in the Middle East.”

To my mind, of course, that’s the problem. It remains to be seen whether former Senator Mitchell can recreate his Irish feat.