In a major effort to win back pro-Israel voters, Barack Obama went before AIPAC’s 2012 policy conference and reassured the audience that he “has Israel’s back.” He got a big round of applause, and more than a few in the audience breathed a sigh of relief that the president was once again in Israel’s camp, especially on the dangerous question of Iran. But at the presser he gave at noon on Tuesday, it became clear that that was then, this is now. Apparently, having Israel’s back “isn’t a military doctrine.” It isn’t… anything. Talks with Iran are the way forward. Sanctions are biting. Talk of war is dangerous. There are costs.
Let’s face facts: Barack Obama doesn’t have Israel’s back. He’s down with his own rockin’ foreign policy. He’s not interested enough in Israel to visit once as president. He’s not worried enough about U.S. interests to resource the forces needed in the region. He’s pretty sure that talks will lead somewhere. Oh, and by the way, he’s also pretty uninterested in that whole fight for democracy thing in Syria or Iran. That’s the kind of “unilateralism” he can’t support. Or something.
And another thing: Barack Obama thinks everyone who listens to him is a fool. How otherwise can he give one speech on Sunday and another on Tuesday? How can he suggest that “got your back” means “we have historically cooperated with Israel”… “just like with a host of other countries” when he clearly intended his AIPAC audience to believe something else?
Lessons learned: 1) Hope Obama doesn’t have your back. 2) Listen to the press conferences, not the speeches. Only the former show us the real man behind the words.
Obama’s speech was meaningless. Netanyahu has made it clear that he doesn’t trust Obama (a reasonable position for Netanyahu to take). And as is the case with so much of life, once trust is gone it can’t be won back by words alone. The only way Obama can prove that he has Israel’s back is to show that he has it… by attacking Iran… which he won’t do.
And Netanyahu knew this before this weekend and before Obama’s speech. In fact, we all knew it… except for those who for some reason act and write as if there is still some uncertainty.
The only thing that is uncertain is the day Israel launches its attack on Iran’s facilities. Israel is going to attack. Nothing Obama, or for that matter, Iran will do will change that fact.
George Bush didn’t visit Israel until the last year of his second term. Does that mean he didn’t care about Israel?
Why would any sane individual believe anything Obama says, have you been asleep for the last 4 years?