Sunday, January 27, 2008
Will Barack Obama support Israel?
Ed Lasky (American Thinker) and Paul Mirengoff (Power Line) 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.
18 Comments:
By 
Assistant Village Idiot, at
Sun Jan 27, 09:21:00 PM:
By 
, at
Sun Jan 27, 09:50:00 PM:
But will they? Thus far, Obama appears to have escaped the scrutiny that other candidates, Rodham-Clinton included, have gotten. After all, when you run on a platform of LOVE, such as John P. Wintergreen ( a.k.a. Carroll O'Connor) did in the Gershwin musical comedy, Of Thee I Sing, you have a platform that escapes all scrutiny.
By , at
Sun Jan 27, 10:51:00 PM:
Obama seems to be so weak on foreign affairs personally that who his advisors are and what they think may really honestly make a huge difference in how his administration would work.
By , at
Sun Jan 27, 11:13:00 PM:
Obama has embraced a "Black Identity" as shown in his selection of Trinity as his church (it emphasizes "Black Identity" and rejects "middleclassness" and "whiteness" etc.)
Obama is also of Kenyan descent and has paid a lot of homage to his Kenyan cousins and granny etc.
Both African-Americans and Kenyans are very anti-Semitic and very anti-Israel. So his selection likely is indicative of his true feelings. A President Obama would dump Israel.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sun Jan 27, 11:28:00 PM:
That's racist nonsense, Anonymous. Try peddling that malarky to the uninformed. The regular readers of this blog are too experienced, knowledgeable, and sophisticated to fall for your adolescent propaganda.
By Reliapundit, at
Mon Jan 28, 12:06:00 AM:
malley was preceded by zbig.
another anbti-israel lefty.
zbig embraced mearsheimer's israel lobby book. and carter - another anti-israel fella.
all these advisors point toward one conclusion: obama would disfavor mutli-decade ally israel and favor the palis.
this dovetails perfectly with his desire to abandon our allies in iraq.
also: the left is the current home of anti-semitism. and obama is of the left.
a vote for obama is a vote for iran and al qaeda taking over iraq, and palis taking over as much of israel as they can.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jan 28, 12:07:00 AM:
Re: Obama
Obama went to school in Jakarta from the ages of six to ten. In some ways, he acts like an upper-class Indonesian.
If he thinks like the typical upper-class Indonesian, he will seek advice from all kinds of people. He will manipulate rather than confront. And he will be a pragmatist.
By Georg Felis, at
Mon Jan 28, 12:33:00 AM:
Well it appears that Obama is picking advisors to help him get closer to the heart and soul of the true Democratic party. With all the talk about "Balance" in the Dems, do you think he will pick a Israel Has a Right To Exist advisor too? Naa, me neither.
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 07:50:00 AM:
Why is it that we so often refuse to believe our eyes.
Robert Malley is nothing less than a total apologist for Islamist terrorism coming from Hamas and Fatah and Hezbollah.
Although, since Condi "Neville Chamberlain" Rice and Pres "I don't see no terrorists" Bush have already told the Fatah and Hamas terrorists that they can create the 23rd Arab state even without agreeing to stop terrorism, does it really make a difference that Obama will also agree to the complete destruction of Israel?
Obama has said that he would not intervene to stop genocide in Iraq, so you know he would not intervene to stop the new genocide of the Jews in Israel. For more proof, look at who Obama is supportng in Kenya, the guy who said he would install Sharia courts in Kenya.
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 09:04:00 AM:
While there is no doubt that an undiluted diet of Malley and Brzezinski would not be a good thing, it appears that people are forgetting that Obama's first Mid-East advisor was Dennis Ross. Ross is no friend of the Palis or the left and the blogosphere has attacked him as viciously pro-Israel. Is it possible that Obama is surrounding himself with divergent views and may reach independent decisions about very complex issues?
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 09:29:00 AM:
Dennis Ross is the guy who went along to the OSLO surrender plan to kill more and more Jews.
Dennis Ross is a best a very left wing person of good intentions and very bad judgment who totally supported giving the terrorist and American killer Arafat scores of trips into the Whitehouse.
Divergent view??? Yeah, maybe Pres Bush should have some al Qaeda supporters on his staff to get some divergent views?
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jan 28, 10:17:00 AM:
"...to help him get closer to the heart and soul of the true Democratic party"
With the recent behavior of the Clintons, more and more African-Americans are beginning to realize that it's the feet of the older white liberal Democratic establishment that's been on the necks of African-Americans.
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 12:01:00 PM:
And here I thought it was a 'me first' culture that glorifies rebellion and violence over discipline and work, with the old white liberals only telling them that that's ok and damning those who say otherwise. (Bill Cosby comes to mind)
But maybe that's what you meant.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jan 28, 12:59:00 PM:
That's a separate issue, Dawnfire82. I'm talking about professional African-Americans--for example, the career professionals who are unable to break through glass ceilings at various liberal federal agencies in Washington, DC.
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 02:04:00 PM:
The primary impact of Jewish-American voters resides in New York State. Depending how New York swings in the primaries and the General Election, Mr. Obama may not feel a particular reason to support that faction of the Democrat party. And that is pragmatism, coupled with the growing sentiment in Europe of demanding more of Israel, in terms of concessions. Those Europeans are oh so much more enlightened than we uncouth Americans, so there.
We improve our standing with our "old allies", please our Arabic friends (and maybe get more oil a pumpin' in the KSA), and with a minimal cost, politically.
Our relationship with Israel is due for a change anyways, as Olmert is about to be tossed overboard by the Winograd commission; which probably means a lurch rightward in their politics.
So yeah, Obama has his finger in the wind. If he becomes the next president of these United States, changes are a comin'!
-David
By , at
Mon Jan 28, 05:46:00 PM:
Obama will not support Israel. Neither will Hillary.
Most of our modern Presidents din't have policies of their own and as a result used their advisors to a greater extreme than was good for American interests. Routinely we supported or put into power bums who a few years later showed their true colors. That leads to unintended problems that have to be worked out years later. Zimbabwe is an example for those who want an example. Iraq and Afganastan are also examples of poor policy implemented years ago.
For those who have worked or lived in the DC area, please not that I realize most of our elected officials don't have the time or the ability to read proposed legislation.
Officials should use their advisors carefully. The bottom line is that American foriegn and domestic policy decisions are made by advisors for officials who don't have a clue.
By , at
Wed Jan 30, 02:08:00 AM:
Ezra Klein nails it:
Robert Malley, the adviser in question, was one of Bill Clinton's Middle East negotiators, a key participant in the 2000 Camp David talks, and is now at the International Crisis Group, one of the most remarkable and highly respected international rights organizations around. But Malley has committed the grave sin of voicing doubts about Barak's generosity and negotiating tactics at Camp David, and that's more than enough to spin some on the Right into long and dark essays speculating on the radicalism of Malley's father and his ties to George Soros and 62 other sinister insinuations that don't make sense (my favorite was "advocated engagement with the fiercely anti-American Iraqi Moqtada al-Sadr," which is something noted America-hater General Petraeus has not only advocated, but done).
I mean, the nutjobs can continue on with theories about how Barack Obama is going to call for a million martyrs to march to Jersualem, but get a grip. Whatever you want to say about Oslo in hindsight, it seemed like a good idea at the time for a whole variety of good reasons, including the total failure of Israeli policy during the *first* infitada. It seemed like such a good idea that four Israeli governments in a row went along with it.
Eight years later, George Freakin' Bush is in favor of a Palestinian state, and nobody worth two bags of gas has a better idea. Permanent Israeli military rule was not working, did not work, and had no possibility of working.
You can go all the way out to the edge of Barack Obama's *possible* views on Israel, and US foreign policy would *still* be pro-Israel by any meaningful metric. You could elect David Duke as president and US foreign policy would be pro-Israel. Heck, y'all should read up on what Richard Nixon thought about Jews/Israel (hint: not good), and we were still pro-Israel.
The only real question is the conditionality and extent to which we're pro or anti- violence-against-Palestinians (I say this as an agnostic on the question) - and once again, the spread here isn't very wide. And regardless of our tepid opinions, the Israelis will do what they feel they need to do - invade Lebanon, pull out of Lebanon, bomb Gaza, evacuate Gaza, starve Gaza, shake hands with Gaza, it's not our call.
By , at
Fri Feb 01, 04:16:00 PM:
Straight from the horse’s mouth…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJVNu0t46o
But you might care to note the stutter, and the eyes held down…
So this is a serious issue that is not just an Israel one… It is about choosing a leader who cares less about “looking good” and more about challenging an entire region who continue to make it dangerous for Israel to implement ANY Peace process; while they blame Israel for Muslim on Muslim killings…
America should continue to stand up for Israel’s right to exist.
