Obama's Palestine comments were right on and about darned time

President Obama’s got stones baby and his stock has gone way up with Sam and me.

First, the Prez.  orders the hit on bin Laden, then he tells the Israelis they need to let the Palestinians have their own homeland within the 1967 borders, and then he stops at an Irish pub and downs a  pint of Guinness. John Wayne didn’t even have stones that big! I just hope the Prez. doesn’t start walking funny like the Duke used to – kind of a fruit-loopy walk if you ask Sam and me.

Our new-found admiration for the Prez. does not mean, however, that Sam and I agree with bombing Libya. That was DUMB, ala G.W. Sure, we don’t like Khadafy and apparently many of the leaders of other Middle Eastern countries don’t like him either. But this was not our fight. Now we’ve created another fine mess and lowered our stock with the Arab world even more. I had hoped the Prez. was immune to Crusader Syndrome.  Why do so many of our so-called humanitarian efforts end up like Black Hawk Down in Somalia?

Sam and I don’t really want this blog to become just another political commentary blog, but we feel a need to weigh in that, overall, we think Obama is doing a pretty good job. His take on the Palestine matter is right on.  Detractors can say what they want about the Prez. setting the peace process back, but Sam and I want to know, “What peace process?” You call 44 years of stalemate a peace process?

What kind of peace process are we talking about when the Israelis approve the construction of 1,520 new settlements in two districts of East Jerusalem?  And how dare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lecture Obama then suck up to our Congress like a kid practicing divide and conquer on his parents, when the United States has helped prop the Jewish state up all these years. Process my patootie!

Sam and I like and admire the nation and people of Israel. They’ve worked hard and carved out a nice country for themselves. They know how to mete out justice when it’s deserved too. They strike swiftly and surely and give no quarter.  Mess with them and you’re stirring up a real hornet’s nest. That’s the way the United States, supposedly the most powerful nation on earth, should be.

 

But Israel and its people also need to realize that the Palestinians aren’t going away. Israel needs to acknowledge that the Palestinians need their own homeland. Thank God Obama had the stones to say so. Many of our former presidents didn’t have what it takes to stand up to the Israelis and tell them what they’ve long needed to hear. With the exception of Jimmy Carter’s efforts, our presidents have largely ignored the obvious needs of the situation involving Palestine and Israel and just let it fester.

Shoot, if we’re going to interfere in another country’s affairs, saying what they don’t want to hear to move them toward peace, certainly is preferable to bombing the crap out of them and accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Way to go Prez. May you ride tall in the saddle for another four years.