I can easily picture him sitting across the table and staring down the opposition [foreign and domestic].
This is good too: Walker wiping the floor with the Mayor of Milwaukee during the recall debate
Posted on 03/02/2015 1:50:38 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress this week. We should listen closely as he raises legitimate concerns about Iran — giving him and his country the respect worthy of a close ally.
Instead, President Obama and some Democrats have chosen to use this visit as a political football. This is exactly what Americans dislike about Washington.
Lost amidst the petty squabbling in our nation’s capital over protocol is the simple fact that the U.S.–Israel relationship is in crisis, perhaps the most serious crisis in our history. While implementing policy that rewards Israel’s enemies, the Obama administration has been questioning the prime minister’s motives and attempting to undermine his message.
Stop the pettiness. We must repair the ruptured bonds between our two countries.
The U.S.–Israel partnership has historically been a rare point of bipartisan consensus. Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East. Our countries share common democratic values, our governments work together daily to confront security threats, and our citizens are bound together by shared history, culture, and blood. This alliance has withstood wars, diplomatic crises, and personal tensions. Until President Obama, all U.S. presidents were dedicated to working out legitimate disagreements between our two governments in order to advance our common interests.
This president has chosen a different course. He has been uniquely indifferent to Israel’s concerns and uniquely accommodating to Israel’s enemies.
Consider the most important point of contention in the U.S.–Israel relationship today: the Iran nuclear challenge. Prime Minister Netanyahu comes to Washington not to provoke the president, but to ring the alarm bells. He has legitimate security concerns regarding the type of deal he sees taking shape. In his view, this deal is likely to leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state and provide the world’s leading state sponsor of terror with billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Such a deal presents an existential threat to Israel. And at a time of extreme anxiety in Jerusalem, the president has reportedly ceased communicating with the Israeli security establishment while writing to Ayatollah Khamenei, supreme leader of a regime that repeatedly calls for Israel’s destruction.
We must not allow this relationship to deteriorate any further. So what do we do? First, the president and his advisers must treat the prime minister of a longstanding ally with the respect that he deserves and stop playing politics. The second step is for the United States and Israel to work out parameters of a comprehensive nuclear agreement that are acceptable to both sides. And finally we must work to rehabilitate our traditional alliance structure in the Middle East, creating a bulwark capable of resisting Iranian aggression. Our national security depends on it.
For all of our allies in the region, Arab as well as Israeli, Iran’s nuclear ambitions are just one part of its broader assault on the regional order, an order that depends on U.S. leadership. If the president continues to call into doubt our friendship with Israel while seeking rapprochement with Iran, he will harm more than just the U.S.–Israeli relationship. He will undermine the trust of our remaining friends and partners in the Middle East. In addition to warm relations with Israel, we also need the cooperation of the Sunni Arab states in order to destroy radical Islamic terrorists and stabilize the region, and the Sunni Arab states are as threatened by Iran’s deadly designs as Israel is.
Strong leadership in the White House is the missing ingredient. Today our alliances are not sound because our allies question our commander-in-chief’s resolve and commitment to their security. We cannot afford to be passive spectators while the world descends into chaos. America must stand with our friends and stand up to our enemies. Then and only then can our standing in the Middle East and throughout the world improve and with it our own security.
— Scott Walker is the governor of Wisconsin. He was elected to a second term in November 2014 and recently formed Our American Revival to take his issues platform to the national stage.
March 9 issue - Weekly Standard: Obama’s Failure [consistent misrepresentation of terror threat; Iran] - Steve Hayes [FR Thread]
Gergan giving Obama and the State Department cover ahead of THE speech.
Bibi vs. Barack: It's time for a truce "...............In short, the moment is dire but not hopeless. What is clearly needed is a cease fire. Secretary Kerry seemed to be pointing in that direction Sunday when he said Netanyahu is welcome to speak in the U.S. on Tuesday. Others should now take up the cause, recognizing that our real adversaries are not in Tel Aviv or Washington but among those in Teheran who support terror and mayhem across the Middle East."
"For all the accusations that House Speaker John Boehner has been engaging in partisanship by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it is the Obama administration and congressional Democrats who are making a partisan issue of Netanyahu’s speech.
The Obama White House has gone in full Alinsky mode on Netanyahu — whether it’s Press Secretary Josh Earnest and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki questioning Netanyahu’s honesty, National Security Adviser Susan Rice claiming the speech would be “destructive” to U.S.-Israeli relations, or Secretary of State John Kerry admonishing Bibi for supporting the War in Iraq. Kerry’s admonition is precious considering that he too once supported the same war. But no matter. Netanyahu is the target and he has been frozen, personalized, and polarized.
Congressional Democrats are doing their part by boycotting Netanyahu’s speech. As of this writing, 37 Democrats have indicated they will not attend (including Vice President Joe Biden in his capacity as President of the Senate). Among the other Democrats who will not be present include Senator Patrick Leahy who called the speech “a tawdry and high-handed stunt.” Leahy’s Vermont Senate colleague Bernie Sanders (a socialist who caucuses with Democrats) as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus including John Lewis, Charles Rangel, and Congress’s lone Muslim representative Keith Ellison, will also not be in attendance. Left-wing stalwarts such as Jim McDermott and Jan Schakowsky have indicated they will be absent as well.
Democrats have a choice. They can either stand with Israel or they can stand with Iran. Every single one of these Democrats who will not be attending Netanyahu’s speech have made it loud and clear that they stand with Iran.
Think about what this means.........."
Walker walks the walk.
I can easily picture him sitting across the table and staring down the opposition [foreign and domestic].
This is good too: Walker wiping the floor with the Mayor of Milwaukee during the recall debate
I thought Walker did a lousy job with clearly partisan, inside-the-beltway Wallace. He walked back his answer to: “Does Obama love his country?” I was NOT pleased.
Someone in the Obama Regime must have asked Gergen for an out.
The words of a good man...
He’s squishy on a number of things. I don’t understand all the groupie love going on around here.
Scott Walker understands that it’s not always best to lead with your chin. And he knows how to work behind the scenes - one good example is Wisconsin’s Right to Work bill that he’s going to sign this week - and not give your opposition, and their media allies, a juicy target.
Gov Walker........ Odumbo has openly displayed his dislike of Israel simply because he is a Muslim and we all know how “Muzzies” feel about Jews. It is right out there in the open for all to see by his actions, words and deeds. What else do we need to know?
I doubt that Chris Wallace interrogated Barack Obama in this same fashion when he was being considered for President. I agree with the tough questions. I just think they should also be asked, for example, of Hillary Clinton.
I liked his old answer and there was no need to walk back: “it’s irrelevant and haven’t discussed it with him.”
What exactly was wrong with that?
There is nothing to be gained by keep making it a story.
There is nothing to be gained by keeping it a story.
Yes, he does.
And as for the criticism that a governor has no foreign policy credentials, Walker demonstrates more creds here, in this one article, than exist in Obama, his Secretary of State, and their combined top 100 foreign policy advisors.
It's not groupie love - it's an effort to keep those who would destroy all our best chances from handing the WH back to the Dems for another 8 years.
What I’m saying is that I wasn’t pleased with the walk back.
Thanks for showing your true colors, mr progressive.
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