Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos, just three weeks out from what is likely to be a highly contentious general election.  Concerned that violence will erupt from either side depending on the election’s outcome, Kerry is there to ensure “that [the] elections be conducted peacefully – that they are credible, transparent and accountable.”  The purpose for his trip is to exert pressure on Nigerian leadership to ensure that the election is credible and peaceful.  He has made it crystal-clear that continued U.S. assistance to fight Boko Haram is contingent on a clean election.  

His trip takes place on the heels of the Obama administration’s announcement that the president refuses to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he speaks to Congress in early March, two weeks ahead of Israel’s general election.  “As a matter of longstanding practice and principle,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said, “we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country.”

It seems that what is good for the Nigerian goose is not good for the Israeli gander.  Sadly, no one is surprised.  Just another example of our mendacious leader treating the public and a head of state he clearly disdains, with utter contempt and blatant disrespect…for all the world to behold.  This is not your father’s commander-in-chief.