Politicians are truly predictable creatures.
You can pretty much gauge what’s going on their lives by how they react to major issues and events. The death of Ariel Sharon provides a particularly useful political Rorschach test.
Obama, who has been safely reelected and doesn’t need any more Jewish votes, could let his true feelings flow.
The president, as most Jewish voters have yet to discover, is a relativist who doesn’t believe Israel’s claims are any more just than those of the Palestinians and the Arabs who hope to destroy the Jewish state. And so, in deference to viewpoints that hold Sharon as a butcher, and not a hero, the president offered this disgraceful little statement on Sharon’s death:
On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the family of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to the people of Israel on the loss of a leader who dedicated his life to the State of Israel.
We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples. We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security.
As Israel says goodbye to Prime Minister Sharon, we join with the Israeli people in honoring his commitment to his country.
What faint praise. Actually, there’s not any praise at all. This is a classic case of avoiding telling a mother that her baby is terminally ugly.
Often, “Michelle and I” express their own sadness at someone’s passing in these statements. Not so for Sharon. Just condolences to those who have a different opinion of the guy than the Obamas.
And what about this? The loss of a leader who dedicated his life to the State of Israel and we join with the Israeli people in honoring his commitment to his country. Those rank a zero on the one-to-ten scale of compliments. I mean, Hitler dedicated his life to the state of Germany – and showed plenty of commitment – right?
Sharon was the savior of Israel in the 1973 war. He showed unyielding toughness in a very tough neighborhood. He made mistakes that resulted in the deaths of innocents, but that happens in war, particularly wars for survival, which all of Israel’s are.
How many civilians does Obama kill with his drone attacks?
Contrast that with Vice President Biden today, speaking in Israel at the Sharon funeral Obama couldn’t bear to attend. Biden, unlike Obama, may need Jewish votes in 2016, if he runs.
“It doesn’t just feel like the loss of a leader. It feels like a death in the family,” said Biden, shounding shomber, or perhaps jet lagged. Okay, he wasn’t talking about his family, but you get the idea.
Here’s some video of Biden’s remarks. Actually, they’re quite good. I just wish I could think they were sincere.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Kerry went straight over the top, even signing on to Sharon’s peace through strength philosophy:
I remember reading about Arik in the papers when I was a young lawyer in Boston and marveling at his commitment to cause and country. I will never forget meeting with this big bear of a man when he became Prime Minister as he sought to bend the course of history toward peace, even as it meant testing the patience of his own longtime supporters and the limits of his own, lifelong convictions in the process.
He was prepared to make tough decisions because he knew that his responsibility to his people was both to ensure their security and to give every chance to the hope that they could live in peace.
During his years in politics, it is no secret that there were times the United States had differences with him. But whether you agreed or disagreed with his positions – and Arik was always crystal clear about where he stood – you admired the man who was determined to ensure the security and survival of the Jewish State.
In his final years as Prime Minister, he surprised many in his pursuit of peace, and today, we all recognize, as he did, that Israel must be strong to make peace, and that peace will also make Israel stronger. We honor Arik’s legacy and those of Israel’s founding generation by working to achieve that goal.
Kerry better bow to Sharon’s greatness, because he needs Israel to make peace with the Palestinians and get himself his Nobel Prize. Sure, such a statement will anger Palestinians, but it’s Israel that will have to make the tough concessions for any deal. And Kerry also needs Israel to cooperate in the capitulation to Iran.
This crew running the United States is not Sharon’s crew. They’re accommodationists. Appeasers. They have nothing to do with Ariel Sharon. They don’t understand Sharon or his cause. At least Obama was honest about it.
13 thoughts on “Sharon Rorschach Test”
Nicely written sentiment, Keith.
as Thomas explained I am blown away that some people able to profit $8398 in a few weeks on the internet. browse around this website… FB39.ℭＯＭ
The world is entering a leaderless age and it is coming at a time more dangerous than ever:
“American foreign policy has never been more muddled or muted.
While the President polishes his inequality rhetoric for yet another political push here at home, the centrifuges continue to spin in Tehran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda terrorize at will, and Russia, China and Iran are more than happy to fill the vacuum created by American indecision and appeasement.
There will be many shiny objects over the coming months meant to distract from the failures abroad but no matter how bright their shine they will not eliminate the reality coming.
On January 6, 1941 Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned a wary Congress and populace that:
“…every realist knows that the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the world — assailed either by arms or by secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations that are still at peace.”
11 months and one day later, the bill for years of American isolationism came due at Pearl Harbor. On September 11, 2001 and 2012 the first two installments of our current bill came due.
We can deny it all we want, but that next installment is accumulating and WILL come due.
We can either pay it now on our terms or beg forgiveness from the future as it arrives special delivery with a nuclear trigger.”
RIP Mr. Sharon, you were as important to America as you were to Israel.
Honest and Barack Obama in the same sentence is an oxymoron.
Obama acknowledges no one’s greatness, especially if it is someone who fights for their country.
As for Kerry, he would jump in the grave if he thought it would bring to his name the everlasting attachment to peace in the middle east. No matter how a that it would not be peace at all.
The fact that Sharon is controversial even speaks to his commitment.
Kerry and Obama stand for nothing, save appeasement.
Empty words belie the actions and policies of Obama, Kerry and Biden. I always think these marbles-in-the-mouth lofty comments on someone’s death utterly pointless and often hypocritical. What disturbs me, Keith, is to see Jewish American politicians like Debbie Wasserman Schultz abandon their past positions on Israel. There was a politician (whose name I have forgotten) at the Democratic convention who sort of excused the new Obama policy by saying that conservative support for Israel is driven by the Christian fundamentalists looking for the near end of times in Israel.
Incidentally, I like your little typo about ‘shomber’ Joe Biden. It sounds Michellese.
And it is infuriating if it is true that DWS was part of the delegation of “dignitaries”.
I couldn’t take the references to Biden as a dignitary — lots of lovely music for me all day.
empty suits use empty words.
well, considering Obama managed to work the Arab Spring into his last Passover message, I’m thinking his Sharon statement wasn’t that bad!
Zing!
VP Biden gave a good speech. In this instance IMHO he represented the USA well. Godspeed Ariel Sharon.
Five sentences! No chance of writer’s cramp. Don’t even start with me with his use of using the familiar first name as if they were best buddies.
“They’re accommodationists. Appeasers.”
They are appeasers when it won’t affect them.
But anything that means accommodating a position that either US Citizens want or Republicans ask for, then there is no accommodating.
Pingback: Monday morning mixed bag (and of course, Open Thread)
Comments are closed.