Obama's Middle East Advisers
What would be the Middle Eastern polices of an Obama Administration?
Even though we are at the end of a long Presidential campaign it is not at all clear what policies a President Obama will pursue in most areas. This is the situation when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.
The respected Middle East Forum, a great defender of Israel, provides this informative look at Obama's Middle East brain trust.
As we have noted friends of Israel like Alan Dershowitz have endorsed Obama.
Bestselling historian Michael Oren provides a useful comparison of McCain and Obama's platforms on Israel.
Hat Tip: American Thinker.
At this late juncture, it is still not for sure that Mr. Obama will be the next President of the United States. However, the chances are rather good. Most polls have him ahead in electoral votes to the extent that he will surely be victorious. Dr. Oren's assessment makes a great deal of sense to me. Whoever wins the election had better be able to cope with an unrelenting Iran, a probable unified Palestinian front from Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, a cold Egypt and possible hot Egypt if Mubarak dies or is unable to continue as leader, a relatively untrustworthy or precarious Jordan, a odious Syria and Lebanon, and a hateful Saudi Arabia. If Mr. Obama is the next president, I pray that he holds tight to the very words he wrote personally to me as my senator in a letter dated July 1, 2008: "First and foremost, I firmly believe in a strong American commitment to the security of Israel. An empowered Iran an emboldened
extremist groups in the Middle east present a threat not only to Israel , but also to the United States and the rest of the world. The United States must maintain its historic relationship with Israel, our strongest ally in the region and the only established democracy in the Middle East." Although I have read much mocking of Mr. Obama's Middle East brain trust, I would strongly hold back any judgment until the time that he becomes president and his administration is working to capacity. Whether Dennis Ross and Martin Indyck, for instance, will bring steadfast, credible assurance to Israel at this point in time remains to be seen; however, their deportment in the past concerning Israel should not necessarily be a harbinger of what is yet to come: the times have changed and the leadership is different. As a teacher and someone who worked devi;ishly hard with high-school dropouts in the Austin neighborhood for almost four years in the late 80s and early 90s, I appreciate what Mr. Obama did on the southeast side of Chicago to help build the self-esteem of untold impoverished people in his early 20s with a Harvard law degree in his back pocket. I respect his ideology and willingness to sacrifice, two traits he learned from his late grandmother.