Posted on 06/10/2009 3:07:16 PM PDT by seanmerc
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama scored big with his eloquent speech to the Muslim world last week. Now he has to put up or shut up.
That’s the price of raising hopes that solutions can be found to tough issues, including the long festering Israeli-Palestinian crisis. His task there is complicated by the new hard-line Israeli leadership personified by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Of course, Obama also has several critical foreign policy problems bequeathed by his predecessor. Among them are the deteriorating Pakistani-Afghanistan turmoil and nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea.
Obama’s uplifting rhetoric has raised expectations that he is a historical figure who can make a breakthrough in the bitter struggle between Israel and Palestine.
His much-heralded speech in Cairo won the intended plaudits of Arab audiences. No one threw a shoe at him.
To reassure Israel that he was not wooing Arab states at its expense, Obama said the U.S. relationship with Israel was rock solid.
"I tried to make very clear in the speech: The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable. It transcends party. . .The ties are very deep. They’re cultural, they’re historic, they’re familial."
In his effort to walk a fine line, the president took a strong stance against Israel’s relentless construction of settlements on the West Bank. In other words, creeping incursion.
"These settlements are an impediment to peace," Obama said. This was a somewhat stronger statement than the Bush administration could muster. Bush officials merely called the settlements "unhelpful."
On the 2008 campaign trail, Obama made much of the fact that he opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He still has 135,000 troops there but has pledged to pull out in a year or so.
As for Afghanistan, the president has sent in some 21,000 more troops to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida guerrillas. We have not heard of any exit strategy on the drawing board. But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insists that the Obama administration has taken a different approach to win over the Afghan tribes.
Maybe, maybe not. Right now it’s difficult to see much difference in Obama’s foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan from Bush’s hawkish approach in the region. And the mayhem goes on daily.
At the same time Gibbs expressed U.S. regrets over the number of civilians killed either by U.S. troops or by pilotless drones bombing suspected terrorist havens.
Meantime, Gibbs said the administration is "heartened" by the election victory of the U.S.-backed coalition in Lebanon last Sunday. A threat by Vice President Joe Biden that the U.S. might cut off aid to Lebanon if the election went Hezbollah’s way was considered effective.
A similar threat by the Bush administration to block U.S. aid to war-torn Gaza if Hamas was voted in power did not produce the same pro-American election results.
Hamas won in what outside observers, including former President Jimmy Carter, called a fair election. And the U.S. promptly cut off aid and all relations with the Palestinian Hamas.
Asked what the president planned as a follow up to his address to the Moslem people, Gibbs said: "I think there are a number of things that are ongoing, and I think the president is also, I think it is safe to say, heartened by the turnout in Lebanon and the results that demonstrate a win for democracy and a win for a sovereign and independent Lebanon."
Hamas leaders have sent a letter to Obama seeking a dialogue. Syria also is looking for a better relationship with the U.S.
Obama has called for a "new beginning" between the U.S. and some of the alienated in the Arab world. We now wait to see how the president carries out his campaign promise of "change we can believe in."
The Beast! I’m blinded.
Pinging the Helen Thomas ping list...FReepmail me if you'd like to be added.
Oh dear GOD, I’m a glutton for punishment! :(
And when he fails to accomplish anything, good ol' love-starved Helen will explain it away saying that the nasty ol' Bush & Cheney were just so mean to those 'peaceful worshippers'.
oh, the humanity of it all..............
i’d hate to see that pic on HDTV
By ‘actions’ , the fossilized Medusa doubtless means reopen Auschwitz.
AWW GOD WHY??????? MY EYES!!!!!!
My face it’s melting!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3ythpzsu18&feature=related
I seriously doubt if Helen Thomas knows anything about scoring big.
CLASSIC!!!
See post #11.
That guy looks a little like William Shatner.
I am waiting for an article about The One that doesn’t contain the world “eloquent”.
A great Twilight Zone episode, one of two he appreared in.
Probably because it was. The episode of twilight zone, Nightmare at 20000 feet.
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