Obama’s Republicans
By NancyA on August 17, 2008 at 7:00 AM in AIPAC, Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, Barack Obama, Israel, MSNBC, Obama, Pandering, Republicans
According to the New York Sun, Obama’s Republican leadership is a cast of characters. They include the following people, Rita Hauser, the PLO apologist whose law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees over the years as a registered foreign agent of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, Lincoln Chafee who according to a 2006 article in the New York Sun “has one of the worst records of anyone in the Senate, definitely in the bottom 10% of class as far as pro-Israel initiatives are concerned” and finally former congressman from Iowa, James Leach, who voted against the Iran Freedom Support Act that toughened sanctions on Tehran, Mr. Leach was one of the 21 congressmen who opposed it.
Quite a cast of characters, all with very slanted opinions or activity that appear to be anti-Israel. Apparently we need to worry about Obama’s stance on Israel despite his rhetoric. He had this to say:
“We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran,” Obama said. “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a clear-eyed understanding of our interests. We have no time to waste. We cannot unconditionally rule out an approach that could prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We have tried limited, piecemeal talks while we outsource the sustained work to our European allies. It is time for the United States to lead. ”
His actions by pulling these particular Republicans as leaders calls in to question whether his words mean anything or was he pandering to the pro-Israel group. The very words he used in his American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) speech may just be rhetoric after all.
Of course we remember he said that he will talk to Ahmadinejad without preconditions. Here are those words in a Marc Ambinder piece. See the section titled SQUARE ONE. Here is Obama’s answer to the question from 2007,
“Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea?…..”
“I would,” he answered.
See the video:
And this was written in the editorial piece, apt and fitting:
Mr. Obama has made pro-Israel statements in his campaign. He spoke at the policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington and at a synagogue at Boca Raton, Fla., and at Jerusalem itself. What is one to make of it if he is then going to cart out Ms. Hauser and Messrs. Chafee and Leach? At the least, it exhibits a tone-deafness that weakens the argument that Mr. Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt on these matters. If these are the Republicans who are gravitating to Mr. Obama’s campaign, it is an ill omen for the Democrats.
Well Obama, do your words mean anything? Can pro-Israel groups really trust your words? Or is it more pandering and political expediency?
by Ronald Scott
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