Israel Matzav: Things to ponder

Things to ponder

Fifteen months into the Obama administration, Victor Davis Hanson suggests some things to ponder. In each case, the question to be answered is "have things improved?"

Here are the items that are connected with our region: In other words, are Palestinians and Israelis, and the region at large, closer to peace or further from it? And is there a greater or lesser chance for another war involving Hezbollah and Hamas? Is Syria more or less likely to fuel regional tension? Is Lebanon more likely to erupt in sectarian violence or stay tranquil? Is Iran closer or more distant to getting the bomb, and is its behavior more conciliatory or provocative? Has Turkey warmed to the U.S., or is it continuing its Islamic distancing? Is Israel more or less secure?

...

Did all the new euphemisms, the serial promises to close down Guantanamo, the envisioned civilian trial of KSM, the Middle East interviews, the Cairo-like speechmaking, and general reach-out to the Muslim world result in 2009 in fewer efforts on the part of Islamic extremists to kill Americans here at home, relative to the annual average since 2001, or more?

Has the United States gained greater good will with our immediate northern and southern neighbors, and is the Clinton diplomatic team more or less likely to commit diplomatic gaffes than was the team of Secretary of State Rice?

And are Chinese, Russian, and Middle East leaders more or less likely now, than in the past, to test an American president? Fifteen months is still early, but answers to these questions are becoming clearer. Not all of these issues involve the United States, but the Obama administration in one manner or another has addressed all of them — usually on the premise that America's prior eight years were the problem and the next four are the solution. Such exultation only makes the contrast more stark.

From the answers to those questions, it is obvious to me that Obama's foreign policy is a complete and utter failure where it concerns Israel. And if you read the rest of it, you will see that Obama is a complete and utter failure in the rest of the world as well.

33 more months (and hopefully not more).

Israel Matzav: Things to ponder