All the pretty words in the world and all the high-sounding sentiments, no matter how eloquently expressed, can't change the hard, cold facts of life. On the contrary, good intentions divorced from reality can make matters worse. President Obama is learning that unhappy lesson in the collapse of his high-profile drive to jump-start peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her Mideast trip acknowledging the administration cannot bring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiating table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas is threatening not to seek re-election, blaming America and Israel for the failure.

Washington's scaled-back plan is to keep contacts between the two sides going...