Former Mayor Ed Koch on his buyer’s remorse|:
Senator Obama received 78 percent of the votes of the Jewish community nationwide. The only group giving him a higher percentage was the African-American community. Many Jewish leaders, myself included, have concluded that President Obama has reneged on his support for the security of Israel – a major priority for most American Jews and many Christians – and is shifting American foreign policy to favor the Muslim, and in particular, the Palestinian cause. It should come as no surprise that in response to a poll taken by Quinnipiac University asking, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the situation between Israel and the Palestinians?” 67 percent of Jews disapproved and 28 percent approved. That same poll showed support by Democrats for Israel was 46 percent and among Republicans, 70 percent. Did this shock me and many others? You bet.
So in order to get closer to the Muslim world, President Obama has clearly distanced himself from Israel. But has it helped him?
Actually, not much.
Shmuel Rosner quotes Pew:
Like his job performance on Iraq and Afghanistan, ratings for Obama’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are extremely low in predominantly Muslim countries, as are his ratings on Iran. Nine-in-ten Lebanese express disapproval of the way Obama is dealing with the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, as do 88% of Egyptians and 84% of Jordanians. Clear majorities in Turkey (66%) and Indonesia (56%) also disapprove of Obama’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
When you’re always seeking to please others, you’ll please no one. This is how Gabriel Schoenfeld describes it:
Whatever the explanation for our peculiar behavior, one of its unhappy effects is that it squanders our enormous military and economic leverage. We are capable of projecting enormous power, yet we wind up projecting weakness.
If you’re going to betray a friend, shouldn’t there be at least some profit in doing so?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
Q – If you’re going to betray a friend, shouldn’t there be at least some profit in doing so?
A – Left wing academics and hack journalist such at Andy Sullivan think that President Obama is really cool now on Israel. Even so
they want him, and his administration, to be even MORE pro-Palestinian, but he does get a bit of credit from them. Surely if it
makes the President feel better about himself that is profit enough.
The fact that it might seriously damage the United States in the long run doesn’t matter. On a host of issues from fiscal policy
to health care to energy and many more the same holds true. The President is being supported by the Democrats and their far left
allies. Massive profits for him. Not so much for the rest of the country.
That Koch is disappointed is one thing. That he and a lot of American Jews are surprised is something else and if they are indeed surprised it’s only because they made a point of not seeing what was plain. Given Obama’s ideology, his experience, his advisers, his general political stancem what causes them to be in the slightest astonished?