The blogsphere is buzzing once again over Samantha Power’s views on Israel. Power, the influential Obama advisor who had to leave his campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster,” and revealing that the candidate does not really intend to leave Iraq in haste (now we know she was telling the truth), is back. Not a surprise to those even remotely familiar with the Obama circle of advisors.
She’s back, and with her comes concern over her past comments regarding Israel. “Both Ms. Power and [new National Security Advisor] General Jones have supported a role for international forces in the West Bank, whether UN or NATO, a concept that is anathema to even left of center Israelis,” writes the American Thinker. Eric Trager writes in Contentions, “This announcement will likely upset many in the blogosphere – including some of my Contentions colleagues – who previously exposed Power for her foolish statements and writings on Iran, Israel, and Iraq.” (Trager does try to be positive and expresses the hope that Power will play a role “as a key adviser in constructing a diplomatic strategy for providing relief” to Darfur).
Since I was one of few people who had the opportunity to interview Power about her views on Israel, when she was attacked by pro-Israel writers during the campaign (not long before she had to leave) – and since most Power detractors do bother to remind us of all her sins, but refrain from quoting the more reassuring remarks she’s made, I thought it is only fair to go back and refresh readers’ memory.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from the article I wrote after speaking with her. In this part of the interview, Power addresses the comments she’s made regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
In recent weeks, a young and talented writer named Noah Pollak, who writes for the right-wing magazine Commentary, has delved deeply into Power’s statements on record. Among other things, he found the following things she said, in a 2002 interview, about what should be done to stop the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “[It will] 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.”
In that same interview, Power said that the situation will “require external intervention.” Pollak very reasonably interpreted this as an expression of support for a “ground invasion of Israel and the Palestinian territories.” Otherwise, he wrote, what did she mean when she spoke of “a mammoth protection force”?
Power herself recognizes that the statement is problematic. “Even I don’t understand it,” she says. And also: “This makes no sense to me.” And furthermore: “The quote seems so weird.” She thinks that she made this statement in the context of discussing the deployment of international peacekeepers. But this was a very long time ago, circumstances were different, and it’s hard for her to reconstruct exactly what she meant. Anyway, what she she said five years ago is less important that what she wants to say now: She absolutely does not believe in “imposing a settlement.” Israelis and Arabs “will negotiate their own peace.”
I don’t think that’s what he meant. If you already did your time back in the day, when colleges were colleges and men were men and everything, I think you’re cool. The stuff about betraying your country if you drop out of High School for whatever reason – now that was creepy. As if the kid with some tragic good reason to drop out needs to feel like a traitor, too.
Obviously, in saying each American should commit to at least one year of higher ed or career training, he wasn’t refering to an additional year.
You, however, would benefit from the additional career training.
Along side of John Kerry, it is his desire to keep our young men and women out of Iraq. That is his simple message.
Should I get another PhD ????
And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.
Am I slow tonight or does this mean … what does this mean ?
The key, THE KEY to understanding Obama, and his creepy wife, is the time they spent with Wright.
Obama is in his mid 40s. Yet he spent over, REPEAT, OVER 20 PLUS YEARS with Wright.
Which means that for most of his adult existence, he’s been listening to a raving lunatic.
Think of it as listening to Michael Savage. Which of you wouldn’t think the less of a man who spent that amount of time listening to Savage?
But Savage is absolutely nothing, NOTHING compared to that raving lunatic, black theologian, Wright.
All of that crap during the campaign season, spread about by fellas’ like Krauthammer, Will, Chris Buckley, about Obama having a first rate temperament and mind, ——————————– it was all utter bulls***.
This guy hadn’t the mental firepower to see through the idiocy, the lies, the hate, the racial supremacism, of an out and out lunatic like Wright. So much for the mental aspect. Think about it, an Ivy League graduate, sitting in the aisles of a man like Wright……..
But as for temperament, —————– what man in his right mind would subject his kids to the distilled hate of a Wright. What man would allow Wright to stretch forth his hands over his children, in some sort of weird, creepy and unholy annoiting.
What man would do that?
America voted for a Lefty. He’s without any doubt, the most radical politico ever elected to high office.
This guy is out there with Henry Wallace.
And he’s going to take our country over a cliff, and he’s already beginning to put Israel to the wall, and he’s already trying to force India to cough up the cradle of her ancient Hindu civilization, which is Kashmir.
Jews have to cough up or divide Jerusualem.
Hindus have to cough up Kashmir.
So much for multiculturalism, religious respect and respect for foreign cultures.
Whatever.
Rod,
Michelle says YES!
School today, subbotnik tomorrow, the rice fields the day after!
I think it’s time for all of us to purchase some serious weaponry.
Neo,
Are you questioning the messiah?
How dare you!
What temerity!
What brazen affrotnery?
Get your keester into a community college right this minute! I don’t care if you have multiple degrees, I don’t care if you went to NYU, —————– get your butt into a school, —————– and pay those extra taxes.
And swallow too that cap and trade nonsense.
CK MacLeod,
You don’t think our Glorious Leader meant what he said? It wouldn’t be the first time. He probably didn’t mean to sound like an idiot, either, but he did.
I almost hope he’s never asked to clarify his plea to the ignorant masses. I’m tired of hearing him deny every misstatement and blunder he makes. I can practically hear him lying now: “As I clearly said….” That’s the preface he uses for most of his petty evasions. He tries to avoid personal accountability by blaming others more often than not. If he possesses enough maturity or integrity to admit to stupid personal mistakes, he seldom displays it. Only when it benefits him somehow.
Big O may even have meant what he said, because America’s educational institution has been busy programming left-wing automatons for decades now. It’s an unofficial indoctrination factory for the Democrat party. I’m sure he would love to have all university graduates subjected to a reeducation program–especially those who graduated before the system was corrupted by political correctness. And trade schools? They mold good little proletarians to march for the unions–especially the schools funded by the federal government.
Big O’s plea for Americans to pursue further education is an effective way to couch a hidden social engineering agenda. It’s also a good way to provide the plausible deniability he’s so fond of. His handlers and speech writers are educated enough to know that sending Americans back to school is a good way to generate votes for the Democrat party and increase his power base. They don’t have to know who Gramscia was to have figured that out. They just have to know what American schools are like.
2: What is not obvious is what hellpit this spawn crawled from.
9: Tony Gramscia is still tossin’ ‘em at the pizza joint on the corner.
” And dropping out of high school is no longer an option.”
No matter what age you are? No matter what the state law says?
And homeschooling – verboten – by a presidential
pronunciamento?
And here I was, thinking that the Commentariat are, tertiary-educationwise, a cut or two above your rank-and-file Big Management Party base and vile. Oh, well!
Still, havin’ hated school does not explain everythin’ even about Rio Limbaugh.
As to the hardcore neoterics, they are distressin’ly prone to double- or even weekly-standardisin’, after all. Very likely to have hated school strikes them as admirable for the servants, though hardly to be emulated by themselves. But God knows best.
Happy days.
#13, JHM: ” hardcore neoterics”
It is safer to stick to words whose meaning you know…
Dear President Obama,
Leave me alone, you’re not my mother, and your not my father, and I thought I lived in a free country.
God help us all.
You think they are really talking about working-out. I really need to get out of my comfort zone. I hit 50 and my LDL is too high. Maybe I can ask for a government handout to join a better gym.
What do you think?
#7 “I think it’s time for all of us to purchase some serious weaponry.”
Huh? Dan, are they coming for you, or are you going for them?
Steven from Indiana
The State already has the Youth of America hostage for 12 of their formative years. It is a travesty that people graduate from the Educational system without the basic skills to get their first job.
Grades 11 and 12 should be teaching subjects now reserved to Community Colleges. Why shouldn’t High schools teach Welding, Accounting, Machine Shop and other trades . The poor Math and Science skills possessed by most H S Graduates make it hard to teach them anything on the job.
We don’t need more time in school, we need better utilization of the time and resources.
In my personal experience someone who went to school in the Philipines or Pakistan , usually for no more than 6 years has a better chance of learning a trade than does the average U S High School Graduate.
Most if not all School systems spend more on Sports programs than they do on practical education.
We need more alternative schools for conscientious objectors to liberalism.
I read it in the same way as C. K. (#1). I think he was saying that every American should have at least one year of education beyond high school. Obama didn’t say he’s asking every American to commit to one *more* year of higher ed. It was poorly phrased, that’s all.
Clearly, the President thinks that if more of us could have had the uplifting educational experiences that he himself had, we would be more likely to listen to the ideas of fine fellows like Clarence Wright and William Ayers on what is wrong with this country.
In the meantime the value of a bachelor’s degree drops with the increasing conversion of American higher education into lefty echo chambers, and tuition costs increase faster than the cost-of-living index.
Our high schools graduates have become progressively less well educated. Community colleges and colleges are where many now receive what was once a high school education. And even they too often graduate without real skills.
There is nothing wrong with insisting that everyone’s education include an aptitude test and at least one year where a real skill, a way to earn a living, is inculcated.
Alexander Almasov,
You’re right. Tony is a tosser. So are all his pals in the education industry.
Earn correspondence high school diploma at with our online high school classes.