During his speech last week at a Washington, D.C. synagogue, President Obama admitted that his treatment of Israel is based on bias against the Jewish State. He didn’t put it that way, of course. Instead, he said he has “high expectations” for Israel — higher than for other foreign nations. As discussed below, that’s an admission of a bias that operates to the detriment of Israel.
Obama’s bias explains a lot. It explains why he has consistently demanded greater concessions from Israel than from the Palestinians. And it explains why he demands that Israel sit on the sidelines while Obama makes a nuclear deal with Iran that all of Iran’s enemies in the region, not just Israel, consider disastrous.
In addition to its power to explain, Obama’s synagogue statement captures three of his essential traits. The first is arrogance. Here, once again, is Obama sitting on Mount Olympus deciding the expectations to which the nations of the world will be held. One set of expectations for this nation, another for that — all based on Obama’s personal views and prejudices.
The second Obama trait on display is perversity. Normally, if anything, we cut our friends a little slack, whether in personal or international relations. But not Obama. He cuts slack to America’s traditional enemies, whether Iran or the Palestinians (who demonstrated gleefully after the 9/11 attacks). Our long time ally, meanwhile, is held to a higher standard (and publicly scolded if it fails to live up to Obama’s expectations).
Third, as noted, Obama’s statement amounts to discriminatory bias against the Jewish State. Imagine an employer who admits that it holds African-American applicants and employees to higher expectations than other employees. That employer would be guilty of racial discrimination.
It would be no defense for the head of the company to say that he holds himself and his management team to the same elevated standards. The relevant comparison is between the treatment of Whites and Blacks in the general workforce and applicant pool. Similarly, the relevant focus in foreign affairs is America’s comparative treatment of foreign nations.
How could Obama get away with telling a Jewish audience that his foreign policy is biased against the Jewish State? Because by talking about his “high expectations” for Israel, he dressed it up as flattery. As Scott said, this “goes over well before a liberal Jewish crowd.”
If there’s a species more obtuse than the liberal American Jew, I have yet to encounter it.
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