An insight into Bush-McCain foreign policy

President Bush likes to stir the pot sometimes. So he decided to travel to Israel for its 60th birthday bash -- an event noticed and celebrated by Democrats and Republicans alike -- and managed to make it half a stump speech for John McCain. He said:

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

Barack Obama felt perhaps rightly that this was a swipe at his position that the United States ought to talk without preconditions to countries like Syria and Iran -- an idea I have not supported but might if the practitioner of talks was more competent than this president. (The White House, as it has many times, by acting like the American public was born yesterday and claimed that the remarks had nothing to do with him.) Obama has not, however supported talks with Hamas until they meet the 3 criteria levied against them: cessation of violence, recognition of Israel, and adoption of past agreements. Still, it provided Bush with an opportunity to support his buddy McCain from overseas and hit Obama. And it shows us the GOP's simplistic view of foreign policy.

To Bush and McCain, meeting with Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-Il is "appeasement," -- yes, this is the word Bush used -- akin to giving away the Sudetenland for free to Adolf Hitler. As Obama said in a recent interview, "We don’t do nuance well in politics and especially don’t do it well on Middle East policy." Truer words have not been spoken this year.

McCain, the so-called foreign policy heavyweight, was no more nuanced in his reaction. He remarked, "It shows naivete and inexperience . . . My question is, what does he want to talk about?" The kids? Baseball? Use your imagination, John. And to speak of naivete! McCain has a very poorly-earned reputation for foreign affairs expertise. And one of McCain's foreign policy advisers, former Secretary of State James Baker, would in a private setting would say it shows "naivete and inexperience" NOT to talk to Ahmadinejad and others.

This is not to say Barack Obama is James Baker. Nuance, people, nuance.

Jews and Obama

On this, the 60th birthday of the State of Israel, we are also coming to a finish with the Democratic nomination for the presidency. And so we also have some new information regarding the attitudes of Jewish voters this time 'round. The Gallup Organization reports that American Jews favor Barack Obama 2-to-1. Rumors of a Muslim past and ties to the anti-Israel Jeremiah Wright evidently are not weighing heavily on Jews' minds. We know this because New York-based Hillary Clinton does only about 5% better in the general election than Obama. Among Jewish preferences within the Democratic Party, Clinton wins only by 50-43. This is remarkably close given that this is in line with other white Democrats. In other words, Obama has no more trouble courting Jews than other white voters -- which is a whole other story. But I think we can say that on May 8, both Barack Obama and the State of Israel can live to celebrate a bit.