Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I've tried not to unduly promote my book on my guest contributor stint here (notice I'm not even mentioning the title :-)), but far be it from me to shy away from a particular subject just because I happen to cover some aspect of it in my unnamed book. In that mysterious volume I dedicate a chapter to Obama's deplorable mistreatment of Israel. It has amazed me that he hasn't received more blowback for this, especially from the liberal Jewish community, though at one point former NYC Mayor Ed Koch did take him to task in a couple of op-eds that I cite.
In fact, Koch called on his fellow Jews in office to condemn Obama and finally he succeeded in smoking out even big lib Senator Chuck Schumer, who reportedly threatened to call Obama out on the subject if he didn't back off. So I find it interesting that Jackson Diehl alleges in a Washington Post op-ed that Obama has "sabotaged Middle East peace talks."
Essentially, Diehl argues that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has conducted peace talks with Israel "for 15 years or more" without a freeze on Jewish settlement construction, but Obama nevertheless superimposes the freeze as a condition.
Abbas said in an interview on Israeli television that with Obama taking that position, he can hardly refrain from taking it himself.
So, observes Diehl, "the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama -- who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote."
This is so vintage Obama: it's his way or the highway. The world has to conform to his vision even when reality screams that his vision is cockeyed. I repeat, he's intransigent, stubborn, and narrow-minded. It is not just peace he seeks, but peace on his terms.
We see it over and over again, from the Chrysler restructuring plan that disfavored secured creditors in favor of his unsecured union buddies to his dogmatic, tyrannical and corrupt approach on health care.
But what say you, Ricocheters, about my contention that Obama has angst toward Israel and that it affects his discriminatory approach to the Middle East peace process?
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Aug '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
It's abundantly clear that Obama's entire reason for being in this life is to whip up conflict, strife, grievance, anxiety, and eventually, perfect polarization. Everything he's done - with few exceptions - has been wrong, counterproductive, 180 degrees from the declared intent. And he telegraphs it all the time with "Let me be perfectly clear..." , or, "Make no mistake..."
By the time he's done, everyone who's paying the least attention will have taken sides, for or against the the Judeo-Christian ethos; for or against the Western Tradition of civilization.
The Divine Hand of Providence is at work. The world is being cleaved with a far more skilled eye than any diamond cutter.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Obama has antagonized Israel, but I haven't read of anything that suggests this antipathy is specifically rooted. It seems to be merely the typical, unthoughful liberal position. Since he's more liberal than any President we've had, it's not surprising that he would actively sabotage Israel.
Israel will bear it, as they always do. I just hope he doesn't interfere if they strike Iran in the coming years. We can probably expect him to condemn such an action, if it occurs, but I'm more concerned that he'll weaken Israel's offensive before it is completed.
Other guest contributors have decided to become permanent contributors after their week in the spotlight. I hope you will stay with Ricochet.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
River:
The Divine Hand of Providence is at work. The world is being cleaved with a far more skilled eye than any diamond cutter. · Oct 20 at 1:58pm
Agreed. The whole world is being set for war.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I disagree with Aaron. Obama's community organizing constituency is the same group from which Jesse Jackson and his infamous "Hymietown" comments originated. He is following the usual leftist cant regarding Israeli concessions, sure. But there was more to the juvenile and classless treatment of Netanyahu than mere liberal piety.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I agree with Aaron that he is acting more out of ignorance and incompetence than any active malice towards peace. That and an epic case of self-absorption. He believes what he reads in the liberal press and what he hears from his friends in academia (where the freeze condition likely originated), and he acts accordingly. When, as you say, "reality screams that his vision is cockeyed", he cannot see it, and suspects a conspiracy against him.
The thing to remember is that on all these issues, from the economy, or health care to Mid-East peace, its really all about Barack.
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
To quote Barack, "Let me be clear(er)," I don't think it's any active malice toward peace, but active malice toward Israel. That's his bias, and I think it goes beyond the anti-Israel bias of the garden variety lib. Look at the pro-Palestinian contacts he has had. I think if you look at all the things he's done, it's clear that he's acted out of a pronounced bias against Israel. He sees Israel self-defense as morally equivalent to Palestinian terrorism.
Yes, it's all about Barack, but in this instance Barack is all about angst toward Israel. I realize that many just won't believe that, just like many didn't believe he was a radical leftist during the campaign despite his record, or just like many believed he was going to be post partisan -- we've seen how that's worked out. I just think sometimes people are too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, when he knows precisely what he's doing.
Edited on Oct 20, 2010 at 3:13pmMay '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I tend to accept Dinesh D'Souza's thesis that much of Obama's world view is rooted in an anachronistic anticolonialism. I think he sees the US as a colonial power, as weirdly ahistorical is that is, and Israelis as European colonizers on historically Arab lands. His hostility to Israel wells from the same deep springs as his antipathy to Churchill and the British. It is neither an accident nor a symptom of ignorance, except to the extent that you have to be colossally ignorant to hold such views in this day and age.
Seen in this way, it makes perfect sense that he would make an issue of the "settlements," since they represent to him a creeping infestation, a sort of Jewish Kudzu colonizing the lands of the Oriental Other. The existence of the Jewish state is bad enough, but the idea that its boundaries could be expanded on his watch must fill him with rage. The least he can do with his office is to halt the spread of the disease until it can be eradicated altogether.
Oct '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
David, Before I even read your last sentence ("I just think sometimes people are too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, when he knows precisely what he's doing"), I had that precise thought. And then I asked myself "Why?" Folks attacked Bush and Reagan venomously at the slightest provocation. Not Obama - and I do not understand it.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
To wit, Edward Said.
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
David Limbaugh
Barack is all about angst toward Israel. I realize that many just won't believe that, just like many didn't believe he was a radical leftist during the campaign despite his record, or just like many believed he was going to be post partisan -- we've seen how that's worked out.· Oct 20 at 3:12pm
Edited on Oct 20 at 03:13 pm
He was supposed to be the post-racial president, too. And we've seen how that's worked out. When it comes to the left and Israel we have a very sad saying around our house..."Jews would vote for Hitler as long as he was a Democrat."
Aug '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Welcome, Holly.
I'm not sure Obama does know what he's doing (though I'm sure he thinks he does). But there is only so much benefit of the doubt a free people should give a president, right? --At least, that's what we heard for eight years about his predecessor.
Sep '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I do not accept the fact that Obama is unintelligent. Spoiled, privileged, bullheaded, inexperienced, not particularly well read in history, yes, unintelligent, no. I agree with Daniel Frank above. D'Souza's thesis of Obama's anticolonialism bent is the only one I have heard, or thought of, so far, that fits with all the facts. He despises Israel for their supposed imperialism, just as he despises the United States for the same reason.
It shows up in other Obama policies as well. For example, why else would he put a moratorium of U.S.drilling in the gulf, while at the same time, give a huge loan to a South American country so that they can drill in the Gulf?
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Daniel, that's right on the money. I hadn't considered Obama's anticolonial view of expasions in general. As environmentalists fail to acknowledge nature as dynamic and cannot accept any environmental change (except the restraint and disappearance of humans), liberals like Obama believe that sociopolitical boundaries should remain ever as they are or else give way to the weakest.
David, I was one of the conservatives calling Obama out as a radical early in his campaign. I continue to believe he is far more dangerous that most folks will admit. His utter disregard for truth, his constant manipulations, his clear end-justifies-the-means attitude and his complete lack of respect for the rights or dignity of his enemies paints a picture of a man restrained only by the limits of his power. If he ever breaks free of those restraints, may God help us.
I was giving the President the benefit of the doubt on Israel. I'm careful what accusations I make against him because I don't want my better-founded accusations to be undermined by a habit of weak speculations. If we are to gain people's trust, we must be cautious in our arguments.
Aug '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
I have a conspiracy theory that Samantha Power,who is notably anti-Israel, was thrown under the bus to keep Jewish Dems and their contributions onside.The "Hilary's a monster" thing was a sacrifice fly, typical of the Macchiavellian genius of the '08 campaign. Now Sam is back on the inside,on NSC staff, Special Advisor to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs.Sounds to me like one or more of those positions gives her access to the ear of O on issues of importance to her-some of which seem to me to involve deep-rooted antipathy to Israel.She does seem to be pushing an open door there.Meanwhile, no theorizing whatsoever is needed to analyse the deliberate humiliation of Bibi.
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Aaron Miller:
I was giving the President the benefit of the doubt on Israel. I'm careful what accusations I make against him because I don't want my better-founded accusations to be undermined by a habit of weak speculations. If we are to gain people's trust, we must be cautious in our arguments.
Yes, I agree. Overstating a case undermines credibility. Your sentence, beginning, "His utter disregard for the truth ... is a thumbnail sketch of my book, by the way. I try not to overstate the case and I've received much feedback from readers that I was careful to meticulously document my case and was not long on editorializing. But I also believe it's fair to make assessments based on the facts before us. And, I believe he has a grudge against Israel or a predisposition against it along the lines Daniel is suggesting. But I certainly wasn't faulting you for giving him the benefit of the doubt. I just don't think our side (I really didn't have you in mind at all) should bend over backward to sanitize the record on his behalf. I don't believe you do, btw.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Besides the anti-colonialism angle of D' Souza, which is very perceptive, there is also, quite simply, the egregious antisemitism, for reasons of which I know not, prevalent in the African American community. Whatever the cause, whichever are his reasons, the ultimate effect is a pronounced anti-Israel bias. Are you listening, my fellow Jews?
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Is there really any evidence that Obama is a Jew-hater in the classic sense? I get the sense that he sees Jews as just another shade of Typical White Person, with everything that entails. If they return to their ancestral homeland after millennia of persecution, they are European colonizers. But if they are onboard with his world view and his program, he welcomes them as political mentors and senior advisors.
Obama didn't grow up in the African-American community, and his allegiance to it strikes me as stemming more from his fashionable leftism and identification with his African father than from authentic roots in that community. His encounter with it strikes me as filtered entirely through his political beliefs and issues of personal identity. It's a lot like his accent: Michelle, who truly grew up there, always sounds the same, while our President wears his dialect like a quirky hat someone gave him as a gift.
David, in your research, did you get any hint that Obama is really an anti-Semite?
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Against all odds, I had managed to make it all the way to my middle years with my political innocence virgo intacta. No longer. It took a shafting by a real pro, but I get it now. As an American Jewish voter, a resident of Israel and the mother of Israeli-American children, I can promise that Barack Obama is a romance I will not be repeating.
To wit: I mailed my absentee ballot this morning for the midterms. A pleasant warm-up for 2012.
Let freedom ring.
May '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Daniel Frank
Is there really any evidence that Obama is a Jew-hater in the classic sense? I get the sense that he sees Jews as just another shade of Typical White Person, with everything that entails.
Liberals point out Rahm Emanuel as proof that the President is not anti-Semitic, but that doesn't mean much if Emanuel prioritizes his progressivism over his Jewish identity. That said, like you, I'm not aware of anything that suggests Obama is blatantly anti-Semitic.
However, Jews and Catholics in general will always be enemies of progressivism, even though many are themselves progressives, because they are symbolic of God's covenant. History has shown that progressives only tolerate reminders of God while they lack the power to silence us. The more corrupt our culture and others become, the more severe and widespread hatred of Jews and the Church will become.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Sabotaging Middle East Peace Talks?
Welcome Holly -- we wrestle with that question pretty constantly around here -- What's your theory?
Edited on Oct 21, 2010 at 2:33pm