The 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll, released today by the Brookings Institution, shows a precipitous drop in optimism about U.S. policy in six Arab countries - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

Obama's outreach to the Islamic world in the early days of his administration resulted in 51 percent of those surveyed saying they were “optimistic” about U.S. policy in the region in 2009.

But not much has happened since then on the Israeli-Palestinian front – or any other Middle Eastern front, for that matter; in this year's poll, only 16 percent say they are "hopeful," while 63 percent say they are "discouraged."