Israel Matzav: The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy

Meet the Fall Guy for President Obumbler's failed Middle East peace efforts.

Peacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move down the board. The president went public with his demand for a full freeze on settlements before securing Israel’s commitment. And he and his aides apparently had no plan for what they would do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no.

Most important, they allowed the controversy to obscure the real goal: nudging Israel and the Palestinians into peace talks. (We don’t know exactly what happened but we are told that Mr. Obama relied more on the judgment of his political advisers — specifically his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel — than of his Mideast specialists.)

Yeah, that must be it. Obama decided that since Emanuel was an Israeli, he must know better how to pressure Israelis than those Middle East peace experts.

All this raises two questions: What has President Obama learned from the experience so he can improve his diplomatic performance generally? And does he plan to revive the peace talks?

Answers: Not much and who cares. Obama walked into a situation where the two parties had been involved in intense negotiations for more than a year, toward the end of which Abu Mazen had turned down the best offer he is likely to see in this lifetime because he was convinced Obama would get him a better deal. Obama should have put the 'Middle East peace process' on the back burner, let Abu Mazen stew in his own juices, and moved on to solvable issues. Instead, he decided to surprise Netanyahu by putting the squeeze on him.

No one in this country trusts Obama. And no one ever will.

Israel Matzav: The Fall Guy