Today the GOP was grilling Kerry on Obama's Iran policy-it must be wrong the GOPers fume as the great Netanyahu says it is. In the minds of today's GOP to disagree with Netanyahu about anything is like an old fashioned Catholic looks at disagreeing with the Pope: it's just not done.
Kerry, though, shines some light in and points out that Netanyahu has been wrong before-badly. Josh Marshall makes the point that to understand Netanyahu politically, he's more at home in an American context than in Israel itself.
Though the GOP likes to tell us that Obama is this bad guy who is alienating Israel, one of our most important allies, in reality, Obama is less estranged from Israel foreign policy than simply with Netanyahu's version of Israel foreign policy.
"That brings us to Netanyahu. Some believe that the Israeli government either wanted the Iraq War to happen or goaded the Americans into the attack. In fact, the Israeli security establishment was very divided on the wisdom of the US administration's policy. Indeed, Ariel Sharon pointedly warned President Bush of the dangers of what he was planning. Indeed, the best account of his discussions with President Bush suggests his warnings were highly prescient - about the spillover of radicalism growing out of a US occupation, the zero sum empowerment of Iran and more.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/02/25/morning-plum-poor-john-boehner-is-helpless-in-face-of-conservative-rage/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/politics/susan-rice-calls-netanyahus-planned-visit-destructive-to-us-israel-ties.html?_r=0
Of course, no one from the White House plans to listen to Bibi and Boehner but Kerry again has the best answer to what he'll be doing that day.
"Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who as president of the Senate would be expected to attend, has said he will be traveling abroad. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that he would be in Switzerland negotiating with the Iranians. The White House has also not committed to sending a representative next week to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s conference, where Mr. Netanyahu is also scheduled to appear."
This is a great answer by Kerry in light of the fact that Netanyahu says he's doing this for one reason:
"Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday that he was making the trip because it was his obligation to “do everything I can to prevent” a nuclear agreement with Iran."
I guess he's favored to win in March but if he doesn't-which wouldn't be a bad thing-you know one job for Bibi waiting is as a Fox News contributor.
Kerry, though, shines some light in and points out that Netanyahu has been wrong before-badly. Josh Marshall makes the point that to understand Netanyahu politically, he's more at home in an American context than in Israel itself.
Though the GOP likes to tell us that Obama is this bad guy who is alienating Israel, one of our most important allies, in reality, Obama is less estranged from Israel foreign policy than simply with Netanyahu's version of Israel foreign policy.
"That brings us to Netanyahu. Some believe that the Israeli government either wanted the Iraq War to happen or goaded the Americans into the attack. In fact, the Israeli security establishment was very divided on the wisdom of the US administration's policy. Indeed, Ariel Sharon pointedly warned President Bush of the dangers of what he was planning. Indeed, the best account of his discussions with President Bush suggests his warnings were highly prescient - about the spillover of radicalism growing out of a US occupation, the zero sum empowerment of Iran and more.
It was Netanyahu, then technically a private citizen, though he would soon enter Sharon's government in late 2002 who not only supported a US attack on Iraq but advocated for it endlessly within the US. (Netanyahu is also not in line with the Israeli security establishment's current views on Iran.) Indeed, that is the parallel to today: the fact that in many ways Netanyahu feels more at home in the US political context than the Israeli one. As Netanyahu said at the time, “there is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and is working and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons — no question whatsoever. If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.”
"And Kerry's point is a simple if brutal one: Netanyahu has a history of trying to get the US to launch major wars in the Middle East."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/kerrys-clean-hit
To say that Netanyahu is more at home in US politics isn't quite specific enough: he's at home among GOPers: he rejected an invitation to also meet with Democrats.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined an invitation to hold a closed-door session with Democratic senators during his visit to Washington next month, saying such a meeting would “compound the misperception of partisanship” surrounding his planned address to Congress."
"Thank goodness for that. Now the speech — which was arranged by House Republicans to undercut a chief Democratic foreign policy objective, a nuclear deal with Iran, with no consultation with Obama — will not have any whiff of partisanship about it whatsoever."
Call him, the Israeli wing of the Republican party. Meanwhile the Obama Administration is stepping up its criticism of Netanyahu:
"Susan E. Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday over his plans to address a joint meeting of Congress next week, saying his actions had hurt his nation’s relationship with the United States."
"Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to travel to Washington to deliver the speech two weeks before the Israeli elections has “injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it’s destructive of the fabric of the relationship,” Ms. Rice said in an interview on the PBS television program “Charlie Rose.”
"Her comments marked the strongest public rebuke to date by the Obama administration since Mr. Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Speaker John A. Boehner to make his case to Congress against a nuclear deal with Iran, which is a priority of Mr. Obama’s. It is also the frankest acknowledgment yet by a top American official of the degree to which the controversy has damaged United States-Israeli relations."
"The White House on Wednesday said that Mr. Obama agreed with Ms. Rice’s assessment, saying he had raised the same concerns several times."
"Her comments, said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, are “entirely consistent with what the president has already said.”
“Allowing this relationship to be subjected to party politics does weaken the relationship,” Mr. Earnest said.
Of course, no one from the White House plans to listen to Bibi and Boehner but Kerry again has the best answer to what he'll be doing that day.
"Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who as president of the Senate would be expected to attend, has said he will be traveling abroad. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that he would be in Switzerland negotiating with the Iranians. The White House has also not committed to sending a representative next week to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s conference, where Mr. Netanyahu is also scheduled to appear."
This is a great answer by Kerry in light of the fact that Netanyahu says he's doing this for one reason:
"Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday that he was making the trip because it was his obligation to “do everything I can to prevent” a nuclear agreement with Iran."
I guess he's favored to win in March but if he doesn't-which wouldn't be a bad thing-you know one job for Bibi waiting is as a Fox News contributor.
No comments:
Post a Comment