Israel Drops Bombs. Obama Plays Golf. 2

A quick reply to my colleague and to an e-mail.  Professor Schaff made a much more serious argument for Obama remaining silent about the Gaza strikes than I did for him speaking.  Were I confident that he is being silent for the Lincolnian reasons Professor Schaff puts forth, I would stand corrected.  But I am not sure that the eve of the American Civil War and the recent upleasantness in Gaza are comparable.  A better comparison might be Ronald Reagan's silence on the hostage crisis in Iran as he prepared to take office.  But that was a question of interference with President Carter in his ongoing negotiations with Iran.  I don't think the same thing applies here. 

I got a pleasant note from Sandy, from which I excerpt this:

Bush WAS President when he went golfing after he got the memo that said Bin Laden Determined To Stike Inside US.  It doesn't matter which thing Obama chooses to do because no matter what - he is NOT President.  Whenever Bush went on vacation or golfing or read a book when our country was under attack - HE WAS PRESIDENT.

That is consistent with Professor Schaff's argument, and I acknowledge the force of it.  But things are being done right now that might have lasting and irremedial consequences.  Barack Obama will be President in less than three weeks, and I am guessing that Hamas and Israel both know this.  So what he says now may matter.  I am not sure what he could have said that would help.  But if this incident should blow up into a regional war by the time he enters office, a film clip of him ducking the question now with a golf club in his hands might come back to haunt him.