Will Israel Neutralize Osama for Obama?
Generally speaking, President Barack Obama has been a disaster on foreign affairs and national security. I take lengthy note of this in my new book No He Can't: The Dismantling of Hope and Change of Barack Obama. The president has insulted our allies and spoken softly to our opponents. He has charmed America's enemies while issuing double-sided backhands to those nations we count our dearest friends.
In the book, I detail relationships with European and South American nations that have suffered this ruthless pragmatism. But last week we saw this on a much grander scale. Up until Thursday's "Arab Spring" outreach speech, Obama had, with recent events, a notably better run on the foreign policy stage, thanks mostly to his kill decision to go get Osama bin Laden. In the polls he saw a minor bump in his approval ratings, and he had touted the accomplishment in his speech at the border where he discussed immigration.
Most gains in his approval over the Osama kill are now in the process of being wiped out as the arrogance of his speech delivered Thursday sinks in. While speaking on the issue of Muslim outreach, Obama landed a backhanded sting to Jews living in the United States and especially to those living in Israel.
The demand -- or as Obama's handlers would classify it, the "request" -- of Israel to move their forces back to the 1967 borders was perceived as not only a rebuke to Israel, but an overt move to weaken them militarily, and to put them on defense against Islamic radical, Palestinian-stirred, Hamas-funded terrorist propaganda.
Within hours news organizations were able to release polls that demonstrated a 67 percent disapproval rating of President Obama's handling of Israel. Mark my words, this most recent slap at Israel's face -- piled on top of other slights like famously keeping Israel's Prime Minister waiting for hours in White House holding rooms while the President went off to dinner -- will damage Obama in the general election with Jewish voters and hurt campaign contributions.
As a matter of fact, over the course of my short 41 years, I'm hard pressed to remember another President who handled his relationship with Israel as poorly and as badly and as publicly as has Barack Obama.
His coarse treatment of our most important ally in the region bodes very badly for the US and our interests. His personal dislike for Israel's internal politics should be very much divorced from his negotiation with Israel on behalf of you and I, "We The People." Sadly the President seems unable to distinguish for himself any difference between his job as President and his personal political opinion of what he thinks of Israel, her people, and their government.
What he needs to understand, and understand clearly, is that we depend upon Israel's nuclear, military, and economic vibrancy in the region to prevent the entire Middle Eastern region from turning into one big radical Islamic ghetto. If Israel was not there, that is exactly what the rest of the world would be facing.
But let's move beyond the geo-political, radical worldview, pro-Palestinian/Islamic activist positions held by President Obama. What about some just plain old common sense?
If you have a meeting scheduled for the following day with a nation that you may have some differences with, isn't it far better to address them in private? The result of Thursday's speech is that the United States and Israel are perceived to be at odds with each other. And while the leaders of those nations may be, the people of the United States overwhelmingly love the nation of Israel and wish her success with her own defense, economic vitality, and self determination.
To make matters worse, according to reports, President Obama assured Israel prior to his speech that there would be no "surprises." And you could argue that from his perspective there probably weren't. If Obama is willing to kick in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's teeth by making him wait for hours in a White House holding room in 2010, what's to keep him from embarrassing the Prime Minister on the world stage while courting Israel's enemies in 2011?
The rest of America does not share President Obama's fascination and curiosity over the Arab Spring. I'm not arguing that we are hostile to Muslims, but I am stating clearly that appeasing them and coddling them, and making them coo is not nearly as important to any of the rest of us as it is to President Obama.
Ultimately "We The People" are growing weary of a President who has clarity enough to kill our enemy one day, but then takes repeated opportunities to insult our long standing allies for days and weeks following. Somebody inside the President's inner circle might want to let him know!
