Monday, March 5, 2012

Panderer in Chief

After months of publicly and privately pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions to advance the cause of peace, President Obama is now sounding much more hawkish on the subject of Iran.  In speaking at the policy conference of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) this past week, he assured the group that "I have Israel's back."  


As I'm sure Benjamin Netanyahu has noticed, this is a president who habitually says one thing and does another, a man who changes policy positions at the first whiff of criticism.  Many of these criticisms regarding Israel have come from prominent Democrats, among them New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, Representative Steny Hoyer, Senator Harry Reid, Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Charles Shumer.  To make matters worse, President Obama has yet to set foot in Israel and that is shameful.


In spite of all that the president has done to criticize and bully Israel, he now proclaims "I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration", in speaking to a group of Jewish donors last October.  


Surely this is either the most delusional or the most egomaniacal president of my lifetime, or perhaps both.  I believe this is just election year rhetoric for Obama since he recognizes he has lost the support of many American Jews through his treatment of Israel.  He's shown us his true colors and if re-elected will be unencumbered by the need to court Jewish donors. Support for Israel will then fall by the wayside. The question is, however, will Jews vote for him en masse this year, or will they recognize that this is simple pandering?