Thursday, October 30, 2014

Who's Really Chickenshit?

Only the most obtuse observer would have been shocked to read that the Obama administration considers the Israeli prime minister to be “chickenshit.”

As Jeffrey Goldberg reports in The Atlantic, it’s just one more in a long list of invectives:

Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and “Aspergery.” 

Of  course, American Jews have not noticed. Since they happily voted Jeremiah Wright’s protégé into the White House, they have a vested interest in blinding themselves to the obvious.

The obvious, as Caroline Glick has been at pains to point out, is the Obama administration's deep-seated animus against Israel.

In Glick’s words:

Since he assumed office nearly six years ago, US President Barack Obama has been dogged by allegations of managerial incompetence. Obama, his critics allege, had no managerial experience before he was elected. His lack of such experience, they claim, is reflected in what they see as his incompetent handling of the challenges of the presidency.

In everything from dealing with the Congress, to reining in radical ideologues at the IRS, to handling the chaos at the Mexican border, to putting together coordinated strategies for dealing with everything from Ebola to Islamic State (IS), Obama’s critics claim that he is out of his league. That he is incompetent.

But if Israel’s experience with him is any guide, then his critics are the ones who are out to sea. Because at least in his handling of US relations with the Jewish state, Obama has exhibited a mastery of the tools of the executive branch unmatched by most of his predecessors….

At least as far as Israel is concerned, Obama’s mastery of the federal bureaucracy is complete. It is not incompetence that guides his policy. It is malicious intent toward the US’s closest ally in the Middle East. 

The Obama administration has not insulted the leaders of Iran and North Korea, doubtless because it fears Iran and North Korea. It has never spoken ill of the leader of the Palestinian authority or the head of Hamas. The president himself always speaks reverentially about Rev. Farrakhan. Obama and his administration have reserved their opprobrium, insults and invective for one international leader, the prime minister of the Jewish state.

To most sensible observers, it looks like anti-Semitism. The rise of European anti-Semitism during the Obama years and the increasing anti-Semitism on American campuses must have some relationship to the president’s overt disdain for Benjamin Netanyahu.

Of course, calling Netanyahu “chickenshit’ is especially galling.

The man who has spent his presidency dismantling the American military should not call anyone chickenshit.

The man who surrendered Iraq and is in the process of surrendering Afghanistan should not call anyone chickenshit.

The president who cowers in the face of radical Islam should not call anyone chickenshit.

And the president who brags about how he pressured Netanyahu not to attack Iran’s nuclear installations should not call anyone chickenshit.

Fair enough, the words came from an unnamed administration official. We wait to see whether the president apologizes openly for the remarks and whether he fires the official who made them.

If he does not, we may assume that they came from him.

For now the administration’s overarching foreign policy goal in the Middle East has been détente with Iran. Obama wants to achieve relieve Iran of the burden of international sanctions. The fact that Iran violates human rights with impunity does not register with him. Obama seems to care more about ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program can continue unmolested.

As you would expect, the Obama people blame it all on the Jews:

Much of the anger felt by Obama administration officials is rooted in the Netanyahu government’s periodic explosions of anti-American condescension. The Israeli defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, in particular, has publicly castigated the Obama administration as naive, or worse, on matters related to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Last week, senior officials including Kerry (who was labeled as “obsessive” and “messianic” by Ya’alon) and Susan Rice, the national security advisor, refused to meet with Ya’alon on his trip to Washington, and it’s hard to blame them.

This is administration spin. Keep in mind that at their first meeting in the White House Obama walked out on Netanyahu and left him alone while he, Obama, sat down to a family dinner—for ninety minutes.

Do you need a clearer sign of contempt?

And then, during the Gaza war, the administration (see Caroline Glick’s article, linked above) used a bureaucratic maneuver to block weapons shipments to Israel. And let’s not forget that the FAA stopped all flights into Tel Aviv.

And, of course, the administration has always insisted that the one true obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the Israeli settlement policy.

While Obama and Kerry were tormenting themselves over the Netanyahu government’s housing policy we lost Iraq, war raged in Syria, ISIS was rising, the Arab Spring was failing and Iran was proceeding to acquire the bomb.

Jews who voted for Obama should be ashamed. And they should send a message to the administration by voting against Democrats in Tuesday’s election.

While many American Jews believe that the Republican Party, with its evangelical Christian wing, is their true enemy, the only group that has wholeheartedly supported Israel of late has been the evangelical wing of the Republican Party.

Go figure.


6 comments:

  1. Is there a moral law that people of Jewish heritage must to be Zionists?

    But what is this chickenshit thing? That doesn't sound very diplomatic.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/the-crisis-in-us-israel-relations-is-officially-here/382031/
    Jeffrey Goldberg:"The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname."

    Oh, I got it, Goldberg is playing games, repeating private gossip, no names of course, because that might get his informer in trouble, right? Unless there was no informer, and he's just trying to stir up some sort of trouble, or distract from some other sort of trouble, who knows what motives people like Goldberg.

    ReplyDelete
  2. that family dinner was a solo affair ... Michelle and the girls were out of town that night ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. My take is that Barry has enough hold on reality to recognize that Bibi is X-multiple times the man he is, and it just burns his butt! He can't cope with that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let's take this moment for a public service announcement.

    http://www.toltecspirit.com/
    The Four Agreements are:

    1. Be Impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.

    2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
    Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

    3. Don’t Make Assumptions
    Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

    4. Always Do Your Best
    Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Voting, "Present" is the consummate definition of "Chickenshit." We all know people who vote this way in their jobs. their relationships, their responsibilities. Passively declining to decide, when it is their duty to decide, and so letting others take whatever blame comes of their decision, while retaining all the gloss of a title. Blame-shifting is as old as Adam and Eve. You'd think G-d gave Adam a helpmeet so he'd have someone to blame.

    Overtly and subtly, Obama has thrown everyone under the bus in order to keep a layer of chickensh*t between him and blame. It's the worst sort of leadership and anyone who's ever had to follow someone's lead and found them wanting, knows the truth of it. We all know that "chickenshit" is the new "coward."

    ReplyDelete
  6. RE: the Obama administration calling the leader of Israel a coward and chickensh*t. Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you." Our country elected a President who hates and curses Israel (all known before he was elected the first time). What can we expect? We can expect an abundance of curses to keep flowing, especially after the election next week.

    ReplyDelete