PrintMay 15, 2008
Bush Disses Obama Overseas
Demcorats have done it to Bush enough times, I guess turnabout is fair play.
Both Al Gore and Jimmy Carter go out of their way when speaking to foreign audiences to harshly criticize Bush for everything from Iraq to climate change. So Obama doesn't have much of a leg to stand on when he gets upset that Bush calls his idea of talking to President Ahmadinejad of Iran "appeasement:"
Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.Some people suggest that if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of our enemies, and America rejects it utterly. Israel's population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because America stands with you.America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary. And America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Not very subtle but someone has to say something about Obama's visions of peacemaking with cutthroats like Ahmadinejad and Assad of Syria.
Obama fired back:
It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power - including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy - to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.
Talking about the "politics of fear" in Israel is incredibly stupid. The Israelis live under the threat of terrorism every day and talking about it in relation to the two major sponsors of terror directed against the Jewish state couldn't be helped - unless Obama thinks Israel deserves what it gets at the hands of Hamas and Hezb'allah.
And the Democrats have been politicizing foreign policy since the beginning of the War on Terror - something Obama didn't mention or apologize for. I guess apologies go only one way in Obamaland.
Bush was trying to point out the potential danger in Obama's policies. The fact that he doesn't recognize or acknowledge the risks involved in his plan to negotiate with Iran and Syria without preconditions makes him not only naive but incredibly dangerous.
