Jonah noted last night that we would be hearing more about Obama and Sarkozy agreeing in their disdain for Bibi Netanyahu, and he was right. Jay Carney tried to duck the issue in a press conference today, saying three separate times some version of “I don’t have any comment on the specific conversation.” He even tried to spin out of it by pointing to the U.S.’s disagreement with France on France’s recent vote granting the Palestinians UNESCO membership. This, I suspect, will not fly.
As Jackson Diehl wrote on the Washington Post site, Obama’s and Sarkozy’s disregard for Netanyahu is not really justified by Netanyahu’s actions. As Diehl put it, Netanyahu “has been an occasionally difficult but ultimately cooperative partner” whereas Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas “has gone from resisting U.S. and French diplomacy to actively seeking to undermine it.” The anti-Netanyahu comments of course provide more proof of Obama’s coldness towards Israel, but they also demonstrate that Obama still does not grasp the essential foreign-policy principle of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior.
Ron Paul doesn't understand the concept of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad, either.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseyou write that "Obama still does not grasp the essential foreign-policy principle of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior"
I disagree with your premise that Obama is a blind scale of justice who is primarily interested in good behavior {"but just can't seem to grasp that principle"} . My lens is 'if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's most likely a duck.' Well, based upon Obama's actions and writings to date, he has no interest in rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. Rather, he's only focused on helping those with whom he identifies, at the expense of those who are not his peeps.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNetanyahu and Israel are two different things.
Can we say that every time a conservative criticizes Obama, they are actually criticizing America? It may be fun, but it would not be accurate. If Obama is interpreted as criticizing Netanyahu, that is not equivalent to criticizing Israel.
A little elementary logic would be useful here.
If Netanyahu lied to Sarkozy or was difficult with Obama, I can understand why they would criticize him.
I think it is interesting how there is very little interest in this alleged lie. If the charge by Sarkozy that Netanyahu has lied to Sarkozy is true, then I think it would possibly indicated that Netanyahu is an unreliable partner, depending on what the lie was and whether it was anything important. How can you work with someone you cannot trust?
Let's also keep in mind that Sarkozy is a conservative, for those who want to make it into a liberal-conservative thing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou must have gotten a lot of wedgies in high school.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSpin, spin, spin - do you get paid for this?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't get it. You seem like you have a brain, you can make words and sentences and paragraphs, but in the end it all ends up as donkey poop.
Pre-1967 borders as a starting point for negotiations with Palestine? That was huge and goes far above whomever is running Israel.
Remember that Anthony Weiner fellow? The guy who won his seat won, in part, because Jewish voters were fed up with Obama.
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Obama's spiritual adviser for 20 years can't stand Israel, he stocked his administration with pro-Palestine, America-apologizing, Hamas hugging, revisionist history jerks
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Several of his intellectual mentors were Jew hating Marxists, Obama didn't do squat when those pro-democracy people revolted in Iran two years ago, hasn't done squat about their nukes, which I pray to dear God in heaven are obliterated by the only country with b*lls right now.
What a buddy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwo allies do not allow chilly relationships between leaders to shatter basic policy agreements. Clinton never liked Netanyahu either, but that didn't lead him to become a shill for Arafat's position in negotiations. The Obama Administration's policies vis-a-vis Israel are the result of calculated decision to change course in our relationship with that ally.
If, on the other hand, Obama's anti-Israel policies flow exclusively from a personal feud with Netanyahu, then he's simply not competent to be President. That's no way to formulate policy.
(And, of course, I shouldn't need to explain to you the difference between CITIZENS criticizing a country's leader and HEADS OF STATES doing so.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe notion that Sarkozy is a conservative in anything like the American sense is laughable. It's worse than sophistry. Non-leftists do not win elections in France, and the description of him as "conservative" is entirely relative to the French context in which he operates.
And as much as you would like to pretend otherwise, this is part of a pattern of snubs and ill treatment of our Israeli counterparts in government. The fact that this is about the fifth time Obama has had to run around doing damage control and assuring everybody that he really, really doesn't hate Israel, ought to tell you something. Bush was savaged by the left merely for not doing our allies' will. Obama gets to insult and snub them endlessly and of course we're supposed to just believe it's all a personal thing between him and Bibi? And between him and Cameron? Please.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo a communist, the socialists are conservative.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe fact that someone does not like Netanyahu makes him anti-Israeli as much as the fact that someone does not like Obama makes him anti-American!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe fact that someone does not like Netanyahu makes him anti-Israeli as much as the fact that someone does not like Obama makes him anti-American!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe MSM doesn't give a d*** about this. They hate Bibi too, and they love Obama far too much to report something like this.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe one article I saw in regular media characterized it as a Sarkozy blunder and included Obama's remark as a throwaway.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's our petty, small-minded President for you. He's in office in order to carry out his own personal quirks, proclivities, likes and dislikes. It's all about him and his will.
He doesn't like Great Britain (too white!), so he goes out of his way to bash them. He doesn't like Israel and he doesn't like Netanyahu, because Netanyahu is too intent on protecting his own country. So we get these catty little school-girl barbs from our small-minded, minuscule, teeny-tiny President.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe most that one can conclude from "I have to deal with him every day" is that President Obama finds Prime Minister Netanyahu difficult. It was Sarkozy who said that Netanyahu was a "liar" and - just as when anyone calls someone you know a "liar" - you're only in the position to dispute the charge if you know that the third person didn't lie to the person to whom you are speaking. (Maybe Netanyahu lied to Sarkozy or Sarkozy believes Netanyahu lied to him - who knows?)
And who cares? I do care about U.S. policy vis-a-vis Israel (I want Israel to be a secure, independent, Jewish and democratic nation and I want the U.S. to assist Israel in that effort), but I don't really care about the President's personal opinion of the Israeli Prime Minister - it's the PM's job to get along with the President and not the other way around.
But beyond that, this is 7th-grade stuff. If you want the U.S. to provide more or less support to Israel or to support Israel in a different fashion, I'd concentrate on that rather than on whether Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu are buddies. (Remember the revoltingly naive and New Age-ish comments made by George W. Bush about Vladimir Putin? A lot of good that did.)
Finally, do folks really think that American Presidents haven't said similar things about the heads of other nations with which we have common interests - the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, Canada, etc.? Or that various Israeli, U.K., etc. leaders haven't said harsh things about American Presidents? (No one recalls Margaret Thatcher's reaction to Ronald Reagan's decision to invade Grenada without first notifying the U.K.?!) I find "I have to deal with him every day" to be utterly anodyne.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama would be perfectly happy if Israel ceased to exist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Obama still does not grasp the essential foreign-policy principle of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior"
I have come to believe that is the standard of modern liberalism, if not in their minds, certainly in their actions.
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