It strikes me that Barack Obama's caution and reticence may have their down side. He has a now well-established pattern of ducking serious questions. As Israel lights up lots of public buildings in the Gaza strip, our President to be has been swinging his nine iron. We know what the press did with that sort of thing when it was George W. climbing out of the golf cart. I don't begrudge our next leader his vacation time, but surely it would have done for him to face a couple of cameras and mouth a few pieties about the need for dialogue, and not send David Axelrod to do it for him. But if you are going to duck the issue for now, for heaven's sake don't let the folks at Fox get footage of you on the seventh green.
What is Obama going to do about the Arab/Israeli problem? Answer: nothing to any effect. That's because there is nothing he can do. America isn't going to cut Israel loose. We aren't going to get out of stroking our Arab "allies." Nor will The One be able to heal the wounds of history and open the path to a better world. When Obama leaves office in four or eight years, he will leave the problem of Palestine to the next occupant. His policy over that time will turn out to be look suspiciously like the policies of Presidents Bush and Clinton and Bush and Reagan. He will send envoys, and Ms. Clinton, to the Middle East. And he will invite the PM of Israel and some Palestinian leader, as soon as they can find someone who meets that description, to meet with him in the Rose Garden, and solemn agreements will be signed. Nothing will come of any of it.
But there is no way out of this game. Hell is other countries. It is a worrisome sign that Obama is trying to avoid it now. He is not exactly going to be able to play the part of an Eisenhower. Perhaps Obama thinks he is above reproach, but he may find out that the honey moon doesn't last forever.
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