Obama overcompensates for winning | xpostfactoid

President Obama's interview with the Forward's editor about the Iran deal was strong.  But as Andrew Sprung points out - his fawning loyalty to Israel tightened my stomach.  Nations have interests.  Leaders serve them.  Frankly I don't see that Israel serves our interests - though we serve its. The tribalist blindness to the interests of the Palestinians costs us a fortune, brings misery to the Palestinians, and does absolutely nothing for the cause of peace. - gwc
Obama overcompensates for winning | xpostfactoid
by Andrew Sprung
Obama's defense of the Iran deal in an interview with the Jewish Daily Forward's editor-in-chief Jane Eisner was marked by bulletproof logic and and impressive grasp of nuance. It was marred, however, by grotesque overcompensation for having beaten back Netanyahu's attempt to control U.S. policy on this front. Obama foreclosed on the the possibility of a fundamental divide in interests, not to say values, in terms inappropriate to relations between nations:

There are always going to be arguments within families and among friends. And Israel isn’t just an ally, it’s not just a friend — it’s family.

And then:

I think the most important thing for those of us who believe it is our sacred obligation to stand up for Israel and to ensure its security — and that’s for American Jews but also non-Jews who feel that same affinity — the most important thing we can do I think is to continue to have honest conversations and honest debate about what is most likely to provide that kind of long-term security.

That's the language of a nation that has ceded its freedom of action in a  dangerous way. With respect to policy, there are no "family" relations among nations. The U.K. is in one sense literally parent to the U.S. Yet if the U.K. gave way to an aggressive dictatorship and started threatening its neighbors -- say, re-litigating its dispute with Ireland and finding pretext to bite off additional pieces, Putin style -- or level Dublin, also Putin-style -- family ties would not (or should not) obligate the U.S. to maintain a commitment to British "security." - See more at: http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2015/09/obama-overcompensates-for-winning.html#sthash.SIeiY4mY.dpuf