Posted by
J-GOP on Monday, January 28, 2008 11:09:02 PM
A post on blog site, The Belmont Club, provides a glimpse at how a future Obama presidency would treat U.S. relations with the State of Israel. As the blog indicates:
To question what does Barack Obama really think about Israel the best answer (from his perspective might be) "what do you think I think?"
Ed Lasky (American Thinker) and Paul Mirengoff (Power Line blog) are wondering why Barack Obama has enlisted Robert Malley as one of his foreign policy advisors. As the various links reveal, Malley is just about as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli as credible foreign policy analysts get, at least in the United States. Now, Malley is but one advisor to Obama among many, and his views clearly diverge from Obama's stated positions. This raises the question, why does Obama list such an inflammatory figure as an advisor? Does Obama merely want different perspectives on his team, or does he genuinely agree with Malley notwithstanding his soothing words to Jewish groups, or is he sending a disingenuous signal to the big-money donors on the transnational left that America will weaken its support for Israel under an Obama presidency? Any of these explanations strike me as possible. It would be wonderful (hint, hint) if mainstream media journalists made some passing attempt to ascertain the correct explanation.
Each constituency may be allowed to think it knows what the candidate's position will be and act on that misunderstanding or understanding. Obama, by saying he is pro-Israel and appointing Malley as an adviser, creates a kind of political Rorschach inkblot test in which those who think Obama is "pro-Israel" support him and those who think he is "anti-Israel" support him too. They are sold a box. And they think they know the contents of the box. But they only get to open the box after Obama is elected President.
The other possibility having an undefined platform creates an implicit bidding situation. Democratic Jewish groups may say, "Oh, if we don't support Obama, then he might be captured by the likes of Malley." And the likes of Malley are probably saying to themselves, "unless we throw everything behind Obama, he may be captured by the pro-Israel lobby." Thus, the two sides will outdo themselves for the favor of the candidate. If in the first case Obama could sell a ticket twice, in the latter case he can hold an auction to sell it to the highest bidder.
Once again it seems that Liberal Jewish voters will vote with their emotions and not their heads when they throw the lever for Obama on Super Tuesday. I guess it will take another Jimmy Carter-like presidency, an administration that elevated terrorists like Yasir Arafat to diplomatic status, before they will realize that today's Democrat party is no longer the friend to Israel as they were in the past.
But hey, it's all about "change", right?