"Hey Field why haven't you mentioned anything about the mudering[sic] SOBs who are supposedly God's people. "
I take it Phil4Real is referring to the Jews and the Jewish state of Israel.
We all now by now what has been going on in Gaza. The Israelis have launched a bombing campaign supposedly against Hamas which has killed over 290 Palestinians, and as I write this they are preparing for a possible ground assault. Israel blames Hamas for instigating the conflict by launching rocket attacks into Southern Israel. Attacks which Israel claims have killed Israeli civilians. As a result, they seem hell bent on destroying Hamas once and for all.
Now many of you who read this blog know that I am a big defender of Israel. I am one of the few so called black progressives who have constantly defended the Israeli people and their right to be able to live in peace. I won't get into the long history of this conflict because that is not the point of this post. But needless to say that Hamas is funded by the Iranians, and they have vowed to destroy Israel and everyone in it. So I don't blame Israel for wanting to go after Hamas.
Still, there is an issue of proportionality here. It's no secret that some civilian targets have been bombed (Including the Islamic University in Gaza), and that is troubling, even for a supporter of Israel such as myself.
But what is almost just as troubling has been the reaction to this latest Middle East conflict by the President and President elect. Treating it like a hot potato won't help the situation, and it certainly won't make it go away.
The frat boy has a few weeks left before his miserable presidency comes to an end, and he is just trying to ride out his last remaining days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The O man isn't much better; he is just praying that this thing goes away before he takes office. Did you hear his boy, David Axelrod, on "Meet The Press"? Talk about moonwalking. "But we've said repeatedly through this transition period that there's only one president at a time, and President (George W) Bush speaks for the United States of America until January 20th, and we're going to honor that moving forward." Translated: We are going to leave this Middle East shit alone, because it is way too hot to handle right now. But I am sorry O man, you can't do that. And how do you look trying to play low key now when you said the following back in July? “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” Sooo does that mean that you believe that Israel has a right to defend itself? Come on man, speak up.
O man you better get used to this stuff. It's not going to get any easier. You can't just put this foreign policy stuff in Hillary's hands and tell her to do her thing. You had better become the world leader that you seem to want to be. You are admired and loved on the world stage, so try and use your bully pulpit to the best of your ability to try and bring peace to that region.
Notice I said "try". Because many of your predecessors thought they could get a handle on this Middle East thing only to be in for a rude awakening. A shaky truce between Israel and Egypt which cost Anwar Sadat his life is the best we could do so far.
Anyway, once again, the Middle East is on the brink of an all out war. And it looks like his O ness will have to deal with it whether he likes it or not when he takes office. Obama has big plans for his domestic agenda, but his foreign policy is going to have to be a priority as well. We don't expect him to save the world, especially not in that region. The division and hatred runs too deep. It's so deep that not even the "Magic Negro" can say abracadabra and make it go away. But he will have to try something. He might not be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but a real cool card trick would be nice.
