Could Bill Clinton be the Man with the Plan? Could he, with a wave of his magic wand and that fabled Arkansas charm, wipe out suspicion, fear and mistrust between the unionists and Sinn Fein and set a process in train to ensure the restoration of the executive before the summer?
Not so, say senior political sources with a sad shake of the head; this is a matter for the Northern parties themselves.
Clinton can give a pep talk but if the players are not prepared to operate as a team, he cannot walk on to the field and score the goals himself. Northern Ireland has been what US politicians call a "marquee issue" for Clinton. He has been able to put it up in lights as a shining achievement in the theatre of foreign policy.
But now, as the life ebbs out of his administration, so, too, the peace process is showing few vital signs. The White House is giving it one last push and the recent visit to Belfast by the deputy national security adviser, Mr James Steinberg, reflected a serious desire to explore what, if anything, the President could do.
There are no magic formulae but the one thing the Americans always contributed was their "can-do" spirit. Don't talk to them about "letting the hare sit" or "waiting for the dust to settle", much less leaving things on hold until the Westminster elections. That's not the American way.
Besides, it's election year and a success for Clinton will reflect on Gore so, hey folks, how about it?
Although David Trimble and Gerry Adams have shown remarkable political courage in the past, both are now heavily locked into their constituencies. Smacking his lips, a leading unionist dissident forecast that the power-sharing executive would be in suspended animation for as long as the Sleeping Beauty.
It will be a considerable managerial task for Trimble to create any room to manoeuvre. Unlike most other leaders, he has to submit himself annually for re-election. The proud tradition of dissent is alive and well in the UUP camp and there are the inevitable rumours and counter-rumours about a "stalking-horse" to challenge for the leadership.
Perhaps Trimble might be tempted to mention this when the Leader of the Free World leans across the table this afternoon and asks him to risk his political neck one more time.
Party officers also have to be re-elected annually and the unionist leadership was caught napping last year by the dissidents who scored significant victories, e.g. all four of the outgoing honorary secretaries are against the Belfast Agreement. Tighter management should mean better news for Trimble when the votes are taken on March 25th.
There can be no major initiatives before that date, according to political insiders. A big push would only unsettle the delegates to the Ulster Unionist Council and push poor Trimble further down the Faulkner road. However, once the UUC a.g.m. is out of the way, the political season can be declared officially open once more in Northern Ireland.
There will be talks, talks about talks, bilaterals, multilaterals and perhaps even a round-table or two: the entire cabaret of conflict resolution. Seasoned observers will be discounting the sound bites, the statements and the interviews and focusing instead on what happens about the guns.
One writes "about" rather than "to" advisedly. The Belfast-based News Letter has been highlighting the countdown to May 22nd each day but Gerry Adams, who is presumably meant to be the man in the grey suit who has to ask the IRA to hand over its weapons, has said this week that the deadline "no longer exists".
Adams was reluctant to travel to the US this year and was sceptical about any breakthrough. His constituency is feeling sore and the Sinn Fein leader has to reflect that mood. There is little persuasive evidence at this stage that his leadership is under serious threat and claims to the contrary may reflect the same kind of wishful thinking which generated so many inaccurate forecasts of IRA decommissioning.
What republicans saw as a constitutional coup by unionists has left a sour taste and there is a readier audience for the sceptical views expressed by prominent republican Brendan Hughes in the new journal Fourthwrite.
There is no appetite at this stage for a return to war, despite Hughes's stark comment that "with the war, politics had some substance. Now it has none."
There is a plausible view that decommissioning by May 22nd would be political and possibly literal suicide for the Sinn Fein leadership. The "Real IRA" would potentially become a major force with an agenda to resume full-scale violence. Only the wilder shores of republicanism and unionism could feel comfortable about this.
The British and Irish governments, with the White House behind them, are left with the job of generating mood-changes in both camps. While not a shred of evidence has been produced to show that the IRA had promised to decommission by last January, somehow leading unionists persuaded themselves that "something" was going to happen and are feeling seriously let down. They are now unsure where the Provisional movement stands. Memories of the Florida gun-running episode, along with the resumption of the appalling paramilitary-style beatings in republican areas, do little to ease their fears or generate trust.
Dublin has been endeavouring to create a more favourable climate for republicans to take political risks. The articulate new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, sharply criticised what he saw as the slow pace of British demilitarisation.
The Taoiseach struck a similar note, reflecting the private views of officials who claim there is a rigidity and inflexibility on the British side which could have dangerous consequences. This brought an intemperately worded response from British army headquarters, using the kind of language more appropriate to an earlier phase of the Troubles.
Dublin sees a chance between March 25th and Easter at least to get people talking seriously again, but it would be very difficult, se nior sources admit, to get the institutions restored in such a short time. The one advantage of the protracted nature of the process is that the problems are becoming clearer all the time.
Decommissioning by the IRA seems to be a virtual non-starter, at least in the present context and as currently defined. This leaves the unionists with a choice: continued direct rule with a possible return to conflict, or the acceptance of something other than the traditional concept of decommissioning as the solution.
There has been speculation about a flexible definition of put ting weapons beyond use. In the longer term, the prospect of IRA demobilisation is also being held out: this is a heady concept, implying a permanent end to violence by the republican main stream. Interestingly, senior British sources did not turn up their noses at the notion of swords being turned into ploughshares, but cautioned: "It has to be real."