Why has Obama treated Netanyahu so rudely?
It seems pretty clear to me that, of all of the countries in the Middle East, there’s only one where he wants to see a regime change.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Instapundit has a theory:
Possibly Obama just hates Israel and hates Jews. That’s plausible — certainly nothing in his actions suggests otherwise, really.
But it’s also possible — I’d say likely — that there’s something else going on. I think Obama expects Israel to strike Iran, and wants to put distance between the United States and Israel in advance of that happening. (Perhaps he even thinks that treating Israel rudely will provoke such a response, saving him the trouble of doing anything about Iran himself, and avoiding the risk that things might go wrong if he does). On the most optimistic level, maybe this whole thing is a sham, and the U.S. is really helping Israel strike Iran, with this as distraction. The question for readers is which of these — not necessarily mutually exclusive — explanations is most plausible.
I’m going to go with Occam’s Razor myself. I’ve seen no evidence that Obama gives a damn whether or not Iran gets nukes (and perhaps he would even be happy to see it — who knows)?
[Update mid morning]
We are all Bibi Netanyahu now:
I think the reaction to Obama’s treatment of Bibi Netanyahu hits home because it was so personal in nature, and because it epitomized how the American people have been treated by Obama and the Democrats, with arrogance and disdain.
We have seen this attitude since the Inauguration, when Obama and the crowd treated George W. Bush with disrespect, in the smears by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other leading Democrats against health care protesters, in the daily attacks by the left-wing blogs and mainstream media against the Tea Party members, in the treatment of Sarah Palin and Trig Palin, in the bribes and budgetary chicanery used to pass a health care bill opposed by a significant majority of the population, and in the disgusting use of the race card to stifle legitimate political dissent.
In Bibi Netanyahu we see something we have lost in our leader, an unflinching sense of national destiny, an unapologetic pride in who we are and why we are, and a willingness to stand up to tyrants and neighborhood bullies regardless of the price.
Instead, we have a bully for a leader, who prefers the company of other bullies to true democrats.
Obama is telling Nethanyahu to stop building in East Jerusalem because Obama doesn’t want Israel to build in East Jerusalem, and Obama doesn’t want Israel to build in East Jerusalem because Israel doing so hurts U.S. interests. It isn’t complicated.
Nuclear weapons in Iran and a nationalizing private property in Venezuela is not in the interest of the US, yet Pres. Obama gives generous invites to “talk” and poses with lavish smiles with the leaders of these dictatorships.
You might think that Obama’s idea of US interests is wildly different than the majority of previous presidents and most of current americans.
Obama is a Social Progressive, and being an anti-Semite who hates Israel is at the top of the Social Progressive list of things “safe to hate”. Our Community-Organizer-in-Chief does it because He can.
doing so hurts U.S. interests
Yeah, it does tend to make all that bowing and groveling to Arab thugs and tyrants (and fellow Jew haters) kinda superfluous, doesn’t it?
I agree with Rand, “The Razor” myself. Instapundit’s ‘optimistic’ scenario is pure wish fulfillment fantasy. I heard the same one around the time Obama was inaugurated.
We’re treating our friends as enemies and our enemies as friends, and the most tin-plated of the latter think they can walk al over us.
And Rand- when are you going to blow the whistle on the sinking of that ROK ship? The p—stream media are trying to ignore it, but a few others are not, see “Shoot Order,” dated 12:30 am at the site johnbatchelorshow.com.
The answer can be found by studying James Baker, who was similarly tough on Israel and who doesn’t hate Jews. Look up James Baker and the dead cat.
The answer can be found by studying James Baker, who was similarly tough on Israel and who doesn’t hate Jews.
That must be why he said “f**k them.”
Baker’s entirely Jewish middle east peace team didn’t think Baker was the least bit anti-semitic.
There are two basic US strategies for negotiating peace in the middle east: be Israel’s lawyer (the route taken by Clinton and George W. Bush and maybe Reagan), or be Israel’s tough-love friend (the route taken by Nixon, Ford, Carter, George H. W. Bush, and now, apparently, Obama.). Neither approach actually works all that well, but the tough-love approach has yielded results in the past without endangering Israel.
The tough-love approach has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, and in fact, more often than not, it is orchestrated by pro-Israel Jews working for the State Dept or the White House. For example: Clinton kept the pro-Israel Jewish middle east peace team that Bush and Baker put together. Look at Dennis Ross’ career – he works for Baker in the state dept, Baker and Ross leave the state department to go work for Bush’s re-election , and then, after the election, Ross goes back to the state department, and instead of getting let go as Clinton puts his own people in place, Clinton gives him a promotion and Ross becomes Clinton’ top-dog on the middle east peace team. . Ross remained pro-Israel throughout.
Oh, and about the F**k them remark: partisan domestic politics, as you know. The whole quote was “”F**k the Jews — they don’t vote for us anyway.” It referred to the trend for Jewish Americans to vote for Democratic candidates, even though of course some Jewish Americans are avid Republicans. It is similar to saying that people from Minnestoa vote for liberals (and that’s true, even though, as was pointed out in a recent comment thread, a faction of them vote for people like Michele Bachman.) A Republican campaign strategist, in the heat of a campaign, figuring out where to send limited funds, can say “F**k Minnesota” without actually having any animosity for Minnesotans, and certainly not any for Bachman voters.
Bob, your masochism knows no bound.
Obama doesn’t want Israel to build in East Jerusalem because Israel doing so hurts U.S. interests
What the hecking heckity heck ARE those American interests? We have no interest in mollifying the Palestinians’ terrorist and terrorist-appeasing leadership. We have an interest only in defeating them. Their war isn’t just against Israel – it’s against all of Western civilization.
I do have this question: who’s doing the actual building – the government, or private firms? I thoroughly oppose govt housing projects. Real estate development shoudl be open to whatever peaceable law-abiding private parties have the money and the title deed, whether they be Israeli, Palestinian Arab, or Texan.
(If I wanted to build a condo development in the Near East, I’d pick northern Iraq over Israel.)
I do have this question: who’s doing the actual building – the government, or private firms?
The land is government owned, developed by private firms, and leased by the government to tenants. See here.
Real estate development shoudl be open to whatever peaceable law-abiding private parties have the money and the title deed, whether they be Israeli, Palestinian Arab, or Texan.
That isn’t the case in Israel: the land is almost all state-owned, and only Israeli citizens and foreign Jews can lease property.
“Obama is telling Nethanyahu to stop building in East Jerusalem because Obama doesn’t want Israel to build in East Jerusalem, and Obama doesn’t want Israel to build in East Jerusalem because Israel doing so hurts U.S. interests. It isn’t complicated.”
If it isn’t that complicated, why didn’t Obama just say it just that way to Nethanyahu? The Prime Minister of Israel is not an idiot.
In fact, why the bully tactics at all for a party (the Democrat Party) supposedly so obsessed with civility?
Once again, you divert attention from the issue by introducing an argument which is both false and completely beside the point.
This isn’t just rude, it’s reprehensible. I’m ashamed of my President.
The cold war (with hot flashes) with the Muslim world certainly justifies some degree of foreign investment restrictions. I would not be as restrictive as the Israeli government – I would allow foreign real estate investment pending a background check into the would-be investor’s support (or lack thereof) for Israel’s sovereignty.
As for me and my hypothetical foreign investment capital, I’d rather be in Mosul.
This goes to show that Obama is just showing his true colors. He doesn’t have much respect for people. It’s very obvious now that he doesn’t respect the American people nor the President of Israel. This could mean he doesn’t deserve our respect.
If it isn’t that complicated, why didn’t Obama just say it just that way to Nethanyahu?
How do you know he didn’t?
People shouldn’t be too hard on Obambi. He’s just following the old Bismarckian (old “Blood and Iron”) nostrum “Great powers have no allies, only interests.” The problem with this strategy is that if you just narrowly follow your interests, it will soon be in the best interests of other powers not to follow you. Even in international politics a certain level of trust is required.
On a lighter note, advocates of the theory that Obama is somehow anti-semitic can tie themselves into knots explaining the new tradition of a White House Passover seder…
Last year: http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/04/obamas-whitehouse-seder/
This year: “www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28seder.html”
Fu#k Bob-1, he’s never going to change. Fu#k Jim, neither is he. Hey! Thanks Bob! I like this! Fu#k you very much!! Wow, I’m sure no one would think I’m insulting you but Fu#k you anyway.
On a more serious note, what is Obama doing to get the Palis to stop trying to wipe Israel off the face of the map? Why isn’t Abu Mazen getting stiffed at dinner, called out on the carpet or told what to do? It’s funny, really, Obama is treating Israel just like an NGO does. You know, those world wide community organizers. They bully who they think they can and leave the tyrants who would kill them alone.
Jim, who do you think has a more vested interest in ME peace? A country in the region or us? Is it possible that Israel, having been a target for 62 years, knows a little more about what goes on that Obama? Answer me this,why is there no focus on the Palis?
On a lighter note, advocates of the theory that Obama is somehow anti-semitic can tie themselves into knots explaining the new tradition of a White House Passover seder…
Why would that tie us into knots? Bob, the explanation would be that he’s trying to hide his anti-semitism. For example, the mere fact that you shallowly believe it demonstrates he isn’t an anti-semite proves it works.
I don’t know whether he practices traditional racism or not. But it’s not a stretch given his choice of associations and that he has demonstrated support for affirmative action (though perhaps not the worst abuses of affirmative action). In other words, he has shown at least mild racism and had some pretty racist associates.
Things like the White House Seder, can easily be cheap tricks to hide deeper problems.
I see Bob is being partisan again. F**k him.
If he did, why don’t we know that? Instead of, you know, having to rely on some idiot commenter pretending to know what’s going on in Obama’s head.
Because that’s what you are Jim. Seriously.