Jan 27 2008
The Obama/Israel factor: Is there a problem waiting to happen?
Obama seems like the dream boy to some: young, charismatic, articulate and witty. If presidents were only selected for personality and charm, he would win handily in the race.
But charm only goes so far, and once that runs out, Obama does have some problems to overcome in his policies and beliefs.
One that I personally discount is the whole “Islamic” factor. I don’t think he is and I don’t give much credence to those emails.
But in an area that does closely dovetail to Islam, he does have some issue concerning Israel.
What trickled this to my attention was an article sent to me from Commentary Magazine.
Obama and Israel–It Gets Worse
A follow-up to my post yesterday about the troubling views of one of Barack Obama’s top foreign policy advisers, Samantha Power. In 2002 she sat for an interview with Harry Kreisler, the director of the Institute for International Studies at Berkeley. Kreisler asked her the following question:
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine - Israel problem, let’s say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there? Would you advise him to put a structure in place to monitor that situation, at least if one party or another [starts] looking like they might be moving toward genocide?
Get a load of Power’s response:
What we don’t need is some kind of early warning mechanism there, what we need is a willingness to put something on the line in helping the situation. Putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import; it may more crucially mean sacrificing — or investing, I think, more than sacrificing — billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel’s military, but actually investing in the new state of Palestine, in investing the billions of dollars it would probably take, also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence. Because it seems to me at this stage (and this is true of actual genocides as well, and not just major human rights abuses, which were seen there), you have to go in as if you’re serious, you have to put something on the line.
Unfortunately, imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is dreadful. It’s a terrible thing to do, it’’s fundamentally undemocratic. But, sadly, we don’t just have a democracy here either, we have a liberal democracy. There are certain sets of principles that guide our policy, or that are meant to, anyway. It’’s essential that some set of principles becomes the benchmark, rather than a deference to [[leaders] who are fundamentally politically destined to destroy the lives off their own people. And by that I mean what Tom Freidman has called “Sharafat.” [Sharon-Arafat; this is actually an Amos Oz construction — NP] I do think in that sense, both political leaders have been dreadfully irresponsible. And, unfortunately, it does require external intervention
That’s a pretty harsh stance on a lot of levels.
As Noah points out:
Just so we’re clear here: Power said that her advice to the President would be to
Note that this wasn’t her response to a question about her personal views of the conflict, or about what she envisions might be a utopian solution to the conflict; it was a response to a question about what she would tell the President of the United States if she was his adviser.
I re-read it several times, and that seems to be a fair assessment.
To be fair,. I checked, and she is recognized as a foreign policy advisor to Obama, and has previously served as a foreign policy fellow to his Senate office.
So I started back checking to Noah’s previous articles and the surrounding story, and I admit this is a troubling issue. Here is a collection of related stories:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/2085
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/barack_obama_and_israel.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/barack_obamas_middle_east_expe.html
I have a lot more to read and digest, but it is clear that not only is his record on Iran somewhat murky, his record on Israel is subject to some real concerns, at least where his policy advisers are concerned.
One thing I have come to understand is that in the world of presidential politics, the people we elect are only half the story. No president is a rock solid voice on all aspects of policy. They need the assistance of advisers who specialize in various aspects of the job. Economics, Military, Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy…all the candidates have their trusted voices, and I think that when considering the office of the president, we should give some consideration to the people they choose as trusted advisers.
In other words, we ought to be very concerned about there judgment not just in matters of state, but in who they listen to in matters of state.
I have more to research on Samantha Power, but from what I hear, she worries me.
Her advocacy against genocide is certainly an admirable one, but I would love to hear her speak out against all the Palestinian suicide bombings and the attacks against the innocent people they are implicated in with as much fervor.
Just my interim 2 cents. I plan to add more to it soon.
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12 Responses to “The Obama/Israel factor: Is there a problem waiting to happen?”
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Look, I don’t think this is true. Obama supports Israel unconditionally, as his AIPAC campaign donations might indicate. He cannot lose the support of the American Jewish voting bloc. He cannot risk being labeled an antisemite, which is a cheap, worthless label thrown around like pennies these days.
I don’t think one Harvard academic is going to change the course of his platform. There are many routes to take with foreign policy but only a small percentage of them are ’safe’ for a self interested politician.
Turning our back on Israel seems too good an option to be true. It is. I don’t think this is true.
ICE Incompetence…
Podcast Show Notes
The federal agency that can’t protect our country from illegal alien criminals is also detaining and deporting U.S. citizens. (Hat Tip: Wizbang Blog.)
Socialist medicine in Great Britains leads to withholding health care from t…
She is his adviser, and that is her consistent position.
now, whether he takes her advice if elected or not is the question.
But if she is so adverse, why make her the adviser? It’s a fair question.
LSU
Samantha Power is not the only advisor to Obama who is worrisome to Jews. I posted an essay on my blog today at http://yankeereb.blogspot.com entitled “Should Jews Worry about Barack Hussein Obama? It covers his religious affliation as a Christian, his financial backers, his voting record, and his statements. Documentation is cited. Here is what I found about Obama’s foreign policy advisors:
Obama’s choice of foreign-policy advisers is another cause for grave concern for Jews. The Jerusalem Post is correct to point out that a candidate’s choice of advisers has proven to be a reliable predictor of what his policies will be if elected. Lasky asserts, Obama “has assembled a body of foreign policy advisers who signal that a President Obama would likely have an approach towards Israel radically at odds with those of previous Presidents (both Republican and Democrat).”
Obama’s foreign-policy team includes Anthony Lake, Susan Rice, Robert O. Malley, Mark Brzezenski, and Scott Lasensky. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark’s father, has met with Obama and advised the campaign as has Ivo Daalder and Samantha Power. Martin Peretz of The New Republic and an Obama supporter has written that most will be part of Obama’s transition team, if elected. Who are these people?
Lake and the elder Brzezenski were members of President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Carter, in recent years, has made several statements that blast Israel, comparing it to apartheid South Africa. Formerly with the Clinton administration, Lake is an “ambassador to the Arab-American community,” according to Lasky. Brzezenski is one of Israel’s staunchest foes. His condemnations of the state of Israel go back decades. He has been especially critical of the Israel Lobby and its influence on United States foreign policy. He advocates negotiations with Hamas, the terrorist group sworn to Israel’s destruction. Obama is on record calling for the same, and Brzezenski accompanied Obama to Iowa, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His son Mark has called for establishing diplomatic ties with Iran.
Rice was John Kerry’s chief foreign policy adviser during his presidential run and served in the Clinton administration. She recommended the appointment of James Baker and Jimmy Carter as Middle East negotiators. Both have been so critical of Israel’s positions that Kerry had to distance himself from them during his campaign.
Malley was on the negotiating team that met with P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David. Since then, Malley has co-authored a number of articles for the New York Review of Books with former Arafat adviser Hussein Agha, blaming Israel for the failures of the Camp David Accords. Malley has pro-Palestinian sentiments and has condemned Israel as a “colonial state.”
Scott Lasensky is another vocal critic of the “Israel Lobby.” He called for the inclusion of “Islamists and Hamas” in the peace process. He decried Jewish settlement dwellers as “obstructionists.” Lasensky has backed Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and Americans for Peace Now, two anti-Israel groups, according to Lasky.
Ivo Daalder, another Obama advisor, spoke off the record about Presidential candidates and Israel to the Financial Times: “The plain fact is there is no upside for candidates to challenge the prevailing assumptions about Israel. The best strategy is to win the White House and then change the debate.”
Perhaps this is why Obama, referring to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, apologized to Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah: “Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.” Abunimah is a proponent of the “one-state solution” to Middle East peace.
Daalder singled out two Jews, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, of “manipulating the levers of power to serve the interests of other countries.” He wants the U.S. to negotiate with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. He condemned Israel’s bombing of Qana, where Hezbollah had missile batteries.
Samantha Power also believes the Israel Lobby has to lose power to cut America’s ties to Israel. She is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She advised Obama on the crisis in Darfur. She believes the greatest threat to America will come from failed states such as Afghanistan, the Congo, and Sierra Leone.
Looking at these foreign policy advisors, Eric Trager in Commentary Magazine wrote, “Obama and his posse view American Jewry as a stumbling block in the way of promoting U.S. interests in the Middle East.”