There is something quintessentially inelegant about public humiliation. Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon, for example, will spend the rest of his political career trying to live down the affair of the low seat for the Turkish ambassador. Even the most wicked dictators understood the lack of taste. They would receive their visitors with royal honors at the railway station, before savaging them in the privacy of their office suites. Discretion is obligatory, even when it comes to insufferable visitors from insufferable countries.
The US president fell short in the discretion department in March, when he was far too demonstrative of his personal grievance against the prime minister of Israel. Presidents of the US don't have to strain to get the message across. Their power is such that a mild hint should be enough. The humiliation of Netanyahu was an unbecoming act, especially for a politician like Obama, known for his coolness under fire.
The extent of his error became obvious this week. He had to go out of his way to put right March's mistake. "Washington Post" columnist Dana Milbank wrote yesterday that to capture the real significance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit, the White House might have "flown the white flag of surrender," no less.
Sweet music indeed to the ears of the prime minister and of his ambassador in Washington. The ambassador, Michael Oren, perhaps the most garrulous diplomat in the US capital, announced in advance of the meeting between the president and the prime minister that this time "there are going to be more photographers there than at the Academy Awards."
Milbank did not hide his disappointment at the public outcome of the meeting. Known for his sharp pen, he wrote that the president "performed the Full Monty of pro-Israel pandering."
A fiercely anti-Israel blogger, M.J. Rosenberg, formerly a Congress staffer and an AIPAC activist, wrote, under the headline "Netanyahu 1, Obama 0", "Obama can inform the chairs of the House and Senate campaign committees that they can tell disgruntled donors that his relations with Netanyahu are good as gold."
A brawl too far
No doubt that is a somewhat crude way of characterizing the president's motives and the results of the meeting, but it does at least express the general impression. Obama's presidency has been in severe crisis since last summer, and the crisis is getting worse. A stream of dismal economic news magnifies the probability that the Democratic Party will lose at least one of the houses of Congress in November.
Since Obama will probably find no massive economic upturn to rely on next year, or even the year after, there is no escaping the conclusion that his chances of reelection in 2012 are even at best.
Is the president really now mortgaging his ambitions political plans to his electoral needs? Highly likely. He is a politician, he knows what is at stake, and no-one should be surprised if he has reached the conclusion that he doesn’t need a brawl with Israel's supporters. He has enough brawls for one election season: one with Wall Street, over reform of the banking system; another with the majority of Americans, over the treatment of illegal immigrants.
What Ben-Gurion told Kennedy
I hear that President Shimon Peres shared an interesting anecdote this week with those who attended the July 4th party at the US ambassador's residence. He told of a visit by David Ben-Gurion to John Kennedy in the autumn of 1960, after the latter had been elected president, but before he was sworn in. Kennedy, perhaps more than any other president in US history, owed a special debt of gratitude to the Jewish vote. "What can I do for you?" he asked Ben-Gurion. The prime minister answered unhesitatingly, "Please be a strong president of America."
The wisdom of that generation is pertinent to our own times as well. Israel will not emerge stronger for Obama's weakness. As for the Israeli left, it received a salutary reminder this week that, if it wants to be effectual, it has to convince the Israeli voter. Potential friends in the White House will not be enough.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 8, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010