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Tonight to tell us about it. john, a lot of speculation about what kind of reception the president might get in israel, how ordinary israelis, how leaders might react to him there. how did it go overall? >> reporter: anderson, i spent a lot of time in this region so you know what seems like concrete under your feet can suddenly turn to quicksand. the president will head home tomorrow feeling pretty happy especially on the point you just raised, reception among the israeli people. he has a very mixed reputation if you look at the polling. spi i spent a lot of time talking to every day israelis....

We now have the answer and chief national correspondent john king tonight to tell us about it. john, a lot of speculation about what kind of reception the president might get in israel, how ordinary israelis, how leaders might react to him there. how did it go overall? >> reporter: anderson, i spent a lot of time in this region so you know what seems like concrete under your feet can suddenly turn to quicksand. the president will head home tomorrow feeling pretty happy especially on the point you just raised, reception among the israeli people. he has a very mixed reputation if you look at the...

He has a very mixed reputation if you look at the polling. i spent a lot of time talking to every day israelis. especially because of the cairo speech early on, maybe he would come out in favor of the palestinians when it comes to the peace issue. all the cultural and historic sites he visited as a tourist but a tourist with a point won a lot of great headlines, lot of praise from israeli officials. one commentator put it this way, if we're this happy when obama comes, what are we do when the messiah comes. >> obviously the prime minister and the president have never been the best of friends. ...

Higher level of confidence if they are going to succeed. >> last question to you, ambassador ross. how cynical are you? do you really believe this trip will really do anything for a lasting peace in the region? >> i'm a congenital optimism. you could not work on this issue for the last 30 years unless you are always convinced something can be done. i'm motivated to believe that way. i think the short answer to your question is i don't think this trip will produce a break through, but this trip is very important. there is a public dimension to the trip that relates to how the president connects...

Prime minister sayyad so he's going to try to understand what's going on with the palestinian authority and what the future is going to look like, what's the relationship between fattah and hamas, what's the likely of the future of palestinians going to be. >> president obama has not been to israel. again, he's going to be going we're told in the next month or so. he's taken some flack for this, intends to visit the region soon. how is our president regarded now in that part of the world? >> well, let me make a couple of points. the first is that it's not unusual for presidents during their fi...