Jay Solomon of the WSJ reports:
In fine-tuning his foreign-policy agenda, Barack Obama is turning to a core group of Middle East experts who have spent more than a decade, in Democratic and Republican administrations, exploring avenues to engaging Iran and Syria.Chief among them are Dennis Ross, former President Clinton’s lead Mideast negotiator; James Steinberg, a deputy national-security adviser under Mr. Clinton; and Daniel Kurtzer, a career diplomat who developed Mideast policy under President Bush and his father.
Some of these experts, such as Messrs. Ross and Steinberg, don’t describe themselves as formally part of Sen. Obama’s campaign for president. But their involvement illustrates the increasing influence on Sen. Obama’s thinking of some of the Democratic Party’s foreign-policy veterans, now that the long nominating process is over.
Of course how effective these guys are is a real question. The results of Ross’s and Kurtzer’s efforts was the “Aqsa intifada” at the ends of Clinton’s term. And if Sen. Obama is elected and the Israelis elect Binyamin Netanyahu we can expect a replay of friction that there was from 1996 – 1999 when Netanyahu was Prime Minister. (We can also expect a return to the damaging leaks about Israel that were par for the course when Ross was in the State Department. Those have been largely absent during the terms of President George W. Bush, though they have reappeared recently about the Fullbright scholars.)
Surprise, surprise, Martin Peretz sees the return of Ross, Kurtzer and Indyk as a good thing. Peretz really has really sublimated his pro-Israel credentials to his enthusiasm for Sen. Obama.
But I guess that Ross, Kurtzer etc. don’t work out, Pres. Obama can always rely on Winnie the Pooh (via memeorandum).
Winnie the Pooh, Luke Skywalker and British football hooligans could shape the foreign policy of Barack Obama if he becomes US President, according to a key adviser. — Richard Danzig…
Israel Matzav expresses his skepticism (about Winnie the Pooh, though it could just as well apply to Ross and friends)
It is possible to defeat terrorism – look at our experience here in Israel with the IDF being in Judea and Samaria. No, it’s not defeated entirely, but then you can’t stop all crime either. Does that mean you stop trying?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
