Obama Compromises His Principles
Fri Apr 11, 2008 at 09:06:53 AM PDT
Let me first say that on the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, Obama has shown more boldness than most pols with presidential aspirations. The possibility that he might bring some sanity and decency to American policy on this issue is a reason I voted for him.
But as the campaign has progressed, he's gotten more timid on the issue. And now he's timid to the point of compromising his principles.
Obama has stated time and again that he would negotiate with enemies of the United States. But yesterday he said that he would not negotiate with the Hamas. Take it away Ezra Klein:
So Obama, despite his willingness to negotiate with most every other dictator on earth, would not negotiate with Hamas, despite the fact that they're the popularly elected government in much of Palestine. This doesn't really track with his past approach to foreign policy, so one has to wonder why he's taking such a hard line. It's almost as if he fears pressure from some sort of organization, maybe a lobby, centered around Israel issues...
In fact, Klein trivializes the dismal state of debate in this country by attributing it solely to AIPAC. The Israel lobby is only one contributing factor among many. It's a debate in which mere even-handed discussion is considered out-of bounds, as Obama himself has noted.
One of the things that struck me when I went to Israel was how much more open the debate was around these issues in Israel than they are sometimes here in the United States.
Well said, Barack. Where is that boldness now? It's not a surprise that Obama doesn't want to get on the wrong political side of the issue. It's politics as usual--and that's the problem.
This was a test, perhaps the first one, of his stated foreign policy principles applied to the real world of American politics. His principles flunked.
