http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/IrwinStelzer/What-President-Obama-can-learn-from-the-Godfather-8014412-51579562.html Paul Mirengoff: What President Obama can learn from the Godfather
By: Paul Mirengoff
Sunday Reflections Contributor
July 26, 2009
It was the Godfather who said "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Though President Obama seems to be following the second part of this dictate, assuming he understands that Hugo Chavez and Russia's leaders are our adversaries, he is not keeping America's friends close. Instead, he seems to be going out of his way to alienate them.
Consider Great Britain, our staunch ally through two World Wars, the Cold War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush didn't agree on much, but both carefully cultivated our "special relationship" with Britain, and for good reason - the relationship serves our military, diplomatic, intelligence gathering, and trading interests. There's much to be said for having a powerful nation consistently in our corner.
Yet Obama signaled right away that, in his view, there was nothing special about our relationship with Great Britain. He had little to say about Britain in his early foreign policy speeches, and his first meaningful act towards the British consisted of returning a bust of Winston Churchill. The bust had been loaned to the White House after the 9/11 attacks as a demonstration of solidarity with the United States.
Later, when Obama met in Washington with Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister received neither a full-blown press conference, nor a formal dinner. And when the two exchanged gifts, Obama gave Brown a 25-box DVD set of classic American films. The gift was sufficiently embarrassing that the British government tried to keep it a secret.
The administration attempted to excuse Obama's shabby treatment of Brown, claiming that the president was "overwhelmed" by the domestic economic situation. But a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit was probably closer to the mark when he told an English newspaper: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment."
Obama's ham-handed treatment of Britain has been confined, as far as we know, to symbolic matters. This cannot be said of his dealings with Israel.
The president wasted little time in picking a fight with the Israeli government over West Bank settlements. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed not to build new "outpost" settlements on the West Bank and, indeed, to tear down such settlements.
Obama, though, demanded that Israel cease any construction within its existing core settlements. This included "natural growth" construction to accommodate the grown children of settlers.
Obama thereby reneged on a U.S. commitment regarding settlements contained in a 2004 letter. The Israeli Knesset relied on this commitment when it voted to approve the removal of all settlements from Gaza.
Obama's demand may have impressed Arab governments and the Palestinians, but it did nothing to advance his stated purpose of facilitating a Middle East peace agreement. Netanyahu flatly rejected Obama's position and Israeli public overwhelmingly supported him.
Meanwhile, Israeli politicians across much of the political spectrum questioned whether the Obama administration, having reneged on a commitment made to induce Israel to "take risks for peace," was a reliable go-between in any future peace initiatives.
But Obama wasn't done. As his diplomats scrambled to resolve the impasse created by his demand regarding West Bank settlements, Obama picked a new fight. He demanded that Israel freeze construction in an east Jerusalem housing complex, in the heart of the city, where a mere 20 units are slated to be built.
With this demand, Obama walked away from a U.S. commitment contained in an act of Congress. The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital and declares that the city should "remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected."
Israel, for its part, protects the rights of Arabs to build in Jerusalem. As the Israeli Foreign Minister noted, thousands of Arab families build houses in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. By insisting that Jews be discriminated against in Jerusalem, of all places, Obama risked not just losing his status as a good faith intermediary, but becoming a laughingstock in Israel.
Great Britain was once a colonial power and Israel is despised by many leftists. But India, which answers to neither description, might have expected warmer treatment from Obama. It is, after all, a rising power in a key part of the world and a natural ally with whom President Bush was able to forge bold energy and trade deals.
Nonetheless, India fell victim to Obama's ally-alienating last week when Secretary of State Clinton attempted to pressure it to accept binding limits on carbon emissions. Clinton did so despite the fact that (1) India's carbon emissions are among the lowest in the world on a per capita basis and (2) its economy has been wracked by the global financial crisis.
India might be able to write off Obama's arrogant meddling as the product of climate panic - a case of cultural imperialism to be sure, but nothing personal. However, this will require India to overlook the fact that, with all of Obama's traveling since taking office, he has yet to visit India. Similarly, during Hillary Clinton's first trip to East Asia as secretary of state, she blew off India, citing scheduling problems. That's not keeping your friends close.
Why has Obama violated the intuitively obvious portion of the Godfather's adage? Perhaps there is a side of him that harbors contempt for nations that find large amounts of common ground with the U.S., a country for which Obama himself feels the need constantly to apologize.
Or perhaps, Obama sees himself as a philosopher king, a "neutral" who stands above the "usual politics" of favoring particular nations. From this lofty, ahistorical perch, it may be possible to view Britain as "the same as the other 190 countries in the world."
But the laws of history, including the importance of true allies, still apply. If Obama tries to escape them he will likely find himself echoing Michael Corleone's lament: "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
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