More on Why Real Conservatives Ought to Vote for Obama
Andrew Sullivan does a great job describing the utterly radical nature of the Netanyahu-Romney foreign policy regime-that-would-be. That regime is simply neo-Trotskyite world revolution ideology updated for the 21st century.
I have lots of complaints about Obama. And I have no doubt that Romney himself is no radical: he is simply hungry for power. But to get it, he is perfectly willing to sell his soul to these radicals.
I have lots of complaints about Obama. And I have no doubt that Romney himself is no radical: he is simply hungry for power. But to get it, he is perfectly willing to sell his soul to these radicals.
I am sorry, Netanyahu a radical?
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu has nearly sabotaged his political career - repeatedly - in the name of peace.
As Prime Minister in the 1990s, he signed off Hebron and West Bank as a part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, even though it would and did damage his re-election and got him booted out of office. And this man is a radical hawk?
While most of the hawks in his country wanted to keep the settlements non-negotiable, the fact that he considered them at all worth negotiating has got him nastily tarred and feathered by members of his own coalition and by much of the Israeli media. Yet, he moves onward to hold talks. And again, this man is a hawk?
He has given amnesty to Palestinian prisoners convicted of the most violent crimes, including the ones involved in the bloody Ramallah lynching, just to obtain peace with Arabs.
And he has sat down to talk and negotiate with the likes of Arafat and Abbas. Arafat, who ordered kidnappings and killings of Israelis. Abbas, who has cheerleaded the murder of Israeli soldiers by a Lebanese Druze. And yet, Netanyahu sits down with these evil men face to face to have TALKS.
This man is one of the most dove-ish, appeasing, and conceding Israeli leaders of the past 30 years. He is anything but a radical.
Well, Prateek, many, many others see a different Netanyahu than you do. Googling for 'Netenyahu "radical right"' turns up 322,000 hits, many of them like the above.
DeleteI think you've chosen your facts very, very selectively.
I think comparing google hits is a rather weak diagnostic criterion, by itself.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I think it's plain that Israel is a radical state, however moderate or radical Netanyahu might appear within that context. Obama's refusal to kowtow wholeheartedly to Israel is his best feature. I don't have a lot of confidence that he will not ultimately defer to Israel on this, especially given his willingness to pursue an Internationalist agenda; but I think it's hard to argue that Obama wouldn't be better in the short run on international issues (namely Israel and Russia).
I still wouldn't vote for him. But part of me hopes he wins, as much as I despise the movement he represents domestically, since it will polarize the right even more and might force a genuine reaction at home (and might, God willing, cause the neocons to perish as a force in the right). And as you've pointed out there are some positive considerations internationally.
"I think comparing google hits is a rather weak diagnostic criterion, by itself."
DeleteYes, I agree. But Prateek seemed to be implying my view is simply nutso, and I just wanted to show it is shared by many people, so there *might* be something to it.
I think that you already know that I share much of the same opinions as you do on this matter. However, it is quite a touchy subject to tackle, there's a lot of strongly held feelings. Be prepared for a lot of fallout.
DeleteAny time you want to see just how far out there Bibi is, just read the Israeli headlines. Most Israelis are against his "wants". Who knows when they'll get their house in order?