There will be those who will claim Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s just announced trip to Israel this month will trump Mitt Romney’s visit later this summer. We will be told this will be evidence of the power of incumbency and the sweet talk uttered by Clinton will balance if not overshadow anything Romney might do or say. But that will be nothing but Democrat spin. Clinton’s trip will not only do nothing to ease President Obama’s difficulties with pro-Israel voters. The decision to send the secretary rather than the president finally breaking down and making his first stop in the Jewish state — something obviously in his political interests as well as a smart foreign policy move — only emphasizes the coolness in relations between the two countries during the past three and a half years.
Stopping in the one foreign country where Romney is more popular than the president won’t turn the election, but it does draw attention to the generally frigid atmosphere between Obama and the Israeli government. But nothing Clinton does or says on her visit can alter the impression of hostility that was the keynote of the U.S. attitude toward Israel prior to the start of the president’s re-election campaign. The one thing lacking from the election year Jewish charm offensive is any evidence of genuine warmth or a sense from the president he understands or sympathizes with Israel’s dilemma despite occasional rhetorical thrusts in that direction. A visit to Israel could perhaps help with that, but Israel is apparently the one American ally Obama refuses to call on even if he is already in the neighborhood. A Clinton stopover there won’t make up for that.
Nor can Clinton credibly play the role of Israel’s friend among Obama’s chief counselors. Clinton has, after all, been the public face of the administration’s efforts to undermine Israel’s stand on Jerusalem, administering undiplomatic tongue-lashings to Prime Minister Netanyahu whenever the president’s pique at Israel flared up into the annual spats that soured relations and encouraged Palestinian intransigence. The contrast between her fervent support for the Jewish state while she was a senator (and beholden to New York’s Jewish voters) and the brusque relations between Foggy Bottom and the Netanyahu government is also a reminder of the hollow nature of Democratic assurances about an Obama presidency’s affection for Israel prior to his election in 2008.
Democrats will rightly recall President Obama did go to Israel when he was running in 2008, but the contrast between that visit and Romney’s illustrates the Democrats’ dilemma with the pro-Israel vote. Then Senator Obama schlepped to Israel four summers ago in order to counter the widespread impression he was cool to the Jewish state. Plus, he never stood out as a supporter up until that point in his career. While there, he said all the right things, but we all know now that once he took office, putting some distance between Israel and the United States was one of his top foreign policy priorities as well as satisfying his desire to be different from George W. Bush in every possible respect.
Romney has no such baggage with him on his trip. Nor does he have to live down his closeness with anti-Israel figures such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Palestinian polemicist Rashid Khalidi as Obama did. Though there are no guarantees a Romney administration will be as friendly to Israel as he claims it will, even most Democrats know it is unlikely he would perpetuate Obama’s well-documented personal hostility to Netanyahu. No matter what Clinton says or does on her trip, she won’t be able to alter the cloud that has hung over the alliance or reassure Israelis the president means business about Iran. Any political gains to be had on the question of Israel remain in Romney’s hands.
We can only hope that SoS Clinton is greeted upon arrival in Israel that construction permits have been issued for new housing units to be built in Jerusalem.
FJO: (For Jews Only) of course….
The Obama administration has been hostile to Israel from the start when the president said he wanted "day light" between the U.S. and Israel. He did that and got nothing for it. He pushed Israel away and the Arabs did nothing to help Mr. Obama or Israel. Such is the work (or arrogance?) of a neophyte. n nSecretary Clinton has been, to be charitable, less than effective in supporting Israel. While she has not been openly hostile to Israel recently, she has done little to support the state. Not that the Department of State has been a supporter of Israel, in any case. n nIf this administration really wanted to show support for Israel, there is one thing that would work. Mr. Obama should send Secretary of Defense Panetta along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to discuss strike plans for Iran. This is the one area where Mr. Obama should be standing alongside Israel, and not "leading from behind," if Mr. Obama is leading at all. n nLet the world see and know that the United States will support Israel and strike Iran's nuclear facilities before Iran builds their bomb. Take concrete steps to tell Iran what will happen in the coming months. That would be a show of support for the Jewish state. Anything less is meaningless, and the voters know it.
the fact that Obama has refused to visit Israel says almost everything you need to know
Hilary is no friend of Israel's. She will be treated politely, but not warmly. After all, they may have to deal with her for 4 more years. n nI do hope they will insist on meeting her in Jerusalem, which the State Dept. officially considers disputed land that is not part of Israel.
sweet! that's a great idea. especially since State has been busily taking the word "Israel" off any photo marked as being taken in "Jerusalem" on their website…
Maybe she can criticize Israel for being "sexist " again.
Well, if the girls casn't sing to the IDF killers…. what can I say?
Having apparently sided with the Muslims, it is not to his benefit to show-up in Israel. nRegardless whether it is O or R, Israel must count only on herself. Not on the US, not on the EU, not on Russia and not on the far East (China or India). The problem is the Jewish democrat morons in the US and in Israel.
it's not that he's obstinate, clare, it's that he's perfect and knows everything. n nI hope it's obvious that was sarcasm! n nI think it's worse than simple moral equivalence: I think Obama believes the Palestinians are in the right and Israel IS a genocidal colonialist power–all evidence to the contrary.
You will get no quarrel from me! I agree with you, but was being too cautious.
we may not be sure whether a Romney administration would be as friendly to Israel as Romney now says, but we can be darn sure it'll be friendlier than an Obama administration–especially a lame-duck one that doesn't need any more Jewish support.
The word "obstinate" is a good and useful word to describe the President. But that doesn't mean that rulieg is wrong to add another dimension, one that I have is accurate.
When it comes to you — I don't stick my nose in the air. I merely hold it
Cowboy, the one thing that keeps you from being totally worthless is that you serve as another example that people who say it's about Israel and not about Jews (like Bill Patriot on the other thread) are lying. Albeit some of them are also lying to themselves. But there are so many examples, and those who need to see the examples are so unwilling to see them, that your overall worth is still pretty low.
Are you sure that Commentary is not sponsored by Rupert Murdoch and Fox News?____(Just to belay the usual knee jerk conservative reaction, I am an Israeli resident wiith children living in Yehuda [some of you call it the West Bank]. I am also above 70 and am often in need of the services of Kupat Holim (our version of Obamacare) which costs me and my wife the equivalent of US$,1,000 PER YEAR and provides us both with physicians’' care, hospital care and deeply discounted pharmaceuticals.) I fully reaslize that this is contrary to the Jewish principles of Commentary and its adherents buy – HEY – no one said that ISRAEL is a religious state.____It would behoove some of you to attend synagogue and pay close attention to the Torah reading. Is God a conservative or a liberal?__
Must not feed the troll. Must not feed the troll. Jack Black say "No drums!"
"( Pray for TheAZCowBoy as the Cantor entrertains you'all). " nThat's a good idea, but on weekdays only. V'l'malshinim al t'hi sikvah – - –
For too many of the Society of Trembling Israelites, freeing Pollard might be the only thing that could make them vote AGAINST Obama. Or maybe commuting Rubashkin's sentence, or intervening to see that he gets a new (and this time hopefully fair) trial.