TIME: Peacemaking In The Middle East: Obama's Year Of Missteps

TIME:

It has taken President Obama just 10 months to achieve something each of his immediate predecessors delivered in their final year in office: failure in the Middle East peace process.

Read the whole story: TIME

Comments

[MacQ]

10:38 PM on 01/04/2010

Meanwhile...the president issued a deadline to Iran of Dec 31 to comply with nuke inspections.
Dec 31 has come and gone. Crickets chirp. Iran must be shaking it its boots.

The white house says it will be discussing what to do next. perhaps more sanctions.

Who taught this guy negotiation? You issue a deadline and let it pass without a word?
You issue a threat but don't know what you're going to do if it's not met?

[sparky73]

03:56 PM on 01/04/2010

It would be nice if everyone would get off of Obama's back for a month. He is doing the best he can.

[Benderknows]

07:36 AM on 01/04/2010

This is one you can't fake using the teleprompter or the tactics Chicago machine politics.

[PWM]

05:32 PM on 01/04/2010

Reagan and both Bushes used a teleprompter, and your hero Palin, here, take a look.

Palin's teleprompter (see it for yourself) http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2008/09/04/the-sarah-palin-broken-teleprompter-myth.html

As for the Chicago machine, Obama was an outsider and is disliked by the machine.

Try again.

[MacQ]

10:39 PM on 01/04/2010

Got that right.

[Make-A-Wish]

06:57 AM on 01/04/2010

They forgot to mention that he also failed to cure fox madness.

[MacQ]

10:39 PM on 01/04/2010

Declaring war on news agencies and conservative Americans was not his finest moment.

[skialethia]

02:27 AM on 01/04/2010

Take your time. Indulge the procrastinator because he needs more time to complete his land-grabbing operation. Pander to the oppressor while you fund and legitimize the ongoing injustice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3YWfqCdMGQ

Listen to the creator of The Wall. Why don’t you have the courage to heed your conscience?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvaXPFH8wVQ&feature=related

We don’t need any more speeches; we don’t need no “thought control” or more weak leaders to deceive us with their pretty words!

[KLovesFreedom]

05:48 PM on 01/03/2010

Time has some nerve. They can determine Obama's "missteps" while electing Bernanke as "Man of the Year"...Truly thought-provoking and noteworthy analysis coming from this reputable magazine...

The Middle East wouldn't be such the debacle it is now if our pillaging, overbearing, dominant government would learn to tend to its own affairs and quit trying to police the world. The issues that plague these countries are much more complex than what our government chooses to admit and requires solutions that America is not financially or morally fit to give.

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

[cfswift1]

08:59 PM on 01/03/2010

10 months as President and he hasn't solved the Middle East problem? Yep that's sure fire failure. What Bush in eight years and all the other president before him couldn't accomplish in over 50+ years Obama should has figured oput and mastered in 10 months/ Time has lost it's credibility.

[MacQ]

09:09 AM on 01/04/2010

Oh yeah, it's all our fault.
NTW: Man of the Year is not necessarily an award of admiration. I think Hitler got it once.

[rich3324]

05:33 PM on 01/03/2010

It's hard to bring peace to the middle east, since both parties seem to enjoy killing each other.

[MacQ]

09:22 AM on 01/04/2010

Actually one side is intent on annihilating the other. Israel cedes, the rockets keep coming. The goal is NO Israel. There is no doubt that if the Palestinians laid down arms, there would be peace.

If the globe could be rearranged, who would you rather have as a neighboring country: Israeli's or the Palestinians?

[PWM]

05:34 PM on 01/04/2010

Several years ago the Palestinians for a number of months tried passive resistence and got a dose of heavy weapons. Israel is the one who has to get out of the occupided terrorities.

[lohu]

05:03 PM on 01/03/2010

Executive order done on Dec 17 allowing interpol into country.


http://www.therightperspective.org/2010/01/03/obama-gives-interpol-carte-blanche-in-us/

[cfswift1]

08:52 PM on 01/03/2010

The Executive Order did not allow Interpol in the country since it was already allowed. Conservatives can be so ignorant.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/01/time-peacemaking-in-the-m_n_409081.html

Some viewers/readers have asked me about an executive order President Obama signed earlier this month regarding INTERPOL, an issue that has exploded on the conservative blogosphere with all sorts of nefarious insinuations and accusations.

Here are some background and the facts:

On June 16, 1983, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12425, which designated the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions and immunities conferred by the International Organizations Immunities Act.

The International Organizations Immunities Act, signed into law in 1945, established a special group of foreign or international organizations whose members could work in the U.S. and enjoy certain exemptions from US taxes and search and seizure laws.

Experts say there are about 75 organizations in the US covered by the International Organizations Immunities Act -- including the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Monetary Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, even the International Pacific Halibut Commission and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.

[marley22]

02:46 PM on 01/05/2010

That doesn't explain exactly WHY the president amended the order. Do you know why? The purpose? The White House hasn't explained it either; couldn't find anything on their website.

[cimbri]

04:12 PM on 01/03/2010

An unending string of failures.

[cfswift1]

08:55 PM on 01/03/2010

Unending string of failures? Really? He got the stimulus package approve. Auto baliout approved. Bank bailout approved. Increase in minimum wage. And No tax increase...Failures. How much time has President Obama spent on the Middle East Peace effort? Not much primarily because he been cleaning up the 8 Year Bush nightmare

[MacQ]

09:10 AM on 01/04/2010

And look what the stimulus is fixin' to do to you if you think that's a wonderful accomplishment:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574628633460370644.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

[PWM]

05:34 PM on 01/04/2010

No, Obama has kept more promises than any previous president in half a century.

Obama Record as of 1/3/10
Promises kept (79)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-kept/
Promises broken (9)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-broken/
Stalled (45)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/stalled/
Compromises (23)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/compromise/
In the Works (219)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/in-the-works/
Overall Count
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

[skialethia]

03:22 PM on 01/03/2010

The problem with Obama on most of the big issues he tackled is the same one he's having with the overall perception of his Presidency: the campaign excitement fizzled to an anti-climatic letdown.

During the campaign he wowed us with his soaring rhetoric making us believe this change he was promising was something great and dramatic and now that he's President we're getting a Bush 3rd term.

The letdown started when he appointed many of the same players whose disastrous decisions brought us to the brink.

On the financial side, the handout to the banks and poor management of the stimulus is already having negative results on the banking, foreclosure and job creation ends.

His decision on Afghanistan is proving to be a huge blunder right from the starting gate and it weakened his credibility because he used the tired, old Bush “fear” script to sell it and was perceived as hollow and phony.

On healthcare, he made a statement in the campaign on mandated insurance and the public option that has come back to haunt him after he failed to fight for and defend the public option.

On MidEast peace, his blunder started at the end of the primaries in his speech before Aipac. On June 4, 2008 he delivered an opportunistic political speech and although he since walked back a part of that speech “somewhat”, in general, he slammed the door shut on all impartial negotiation.

.../2.

[skialethia]

04:26 PM on 01/03/2010

Part 2.

Since Obama initiated his MidEast plan there have been a couple of faux pas made by Hillary which she was forced to walk back and ongoing mixed messages, as well as Israel/U.S./Egypt’s complicity in the Gaza reconstruction blockade which is perceived by the rest of the world as the ongoing collective punishment of civilians.

How can Obama earn any credibility or success on the MidEast issue, when he starts by slamming the door on impartiality with his Aipac speech in the primaries, delivers mixed messages and false hope to both sides later, fails to pressure Israel while Palestinians are complying with their end of the requisites for negotiation, and worse of all, continues to enable, fund and legitimize the systematic oppression of Palestinians under Israeli control?

Nothing good will ever come of this misguided policy and anyone who believes that you can foment peace on the back of oppression and injustice is selling you bill of goods for a shaky bridge over a cavernous ravine.

I suggest he stop legitimizing injustice first, so he can present himself as an honest broker. Then he should reward the one in compliance of the prerequisites necessary for negotiation by pressuring the other side to deliver their end of the bargain rather than pander to them and coddle their procrastination.

He is doing none of the above and the outcome is predictable.

[skialethia]

03:00 PM on 01/03/2010

The problem with Obama on most of the big issues he tackled is the same one he's having with the overall perception of his Presidency: the campaign excitement fizzled to an anti-climatic letdown.

During the campaign he wowed us with his soaring rhetoric and made us believe that this change he was promising was something great and dramatic and now that he's President we're getting a Bush 3rd term.

The letdown started when he appointed many of the same players whose disastrous decisions brought us to the brink.

On the financial side, the handout to the banks and poor management of the stimulus is already having negative results on the banking, foreclosure and job creation ends.

His decision on Afghanistan is proving to be a huge blunder right from the starting gate and it weakened his credibility because he used the tired, old Bush “fear” script to sell it and was perceived as hollow and phony.

On healthcare, he made a statement in the campaign on mandated insurance and the public option that has come back to haunt him after he failed to fight for and defend the public option.

On MidEast peace, his blunder started at the end of the primaries in his speech before ai pac. On June 4, 2008 he delivered an opportunistic political speech and although he since walked back a part of that speech “somewhat”, in general, he slammed the door shut on all impartial negotiation.

.../2.

[skialethia]

03:52 PM on 01/03/2010

2.

Since Obama initiated his MidEast plan there have been a couple of faux pas made by Hillary which she was forced to walk back and ongoing mixed messages, as well as Israel/U.S./Egypt’s complicity in the Gaza reconstruction blockade which is perceived by the rest of the world as the ongoing collective punishment of civilians.

How can Obama earn any credibility or success on the MidEast issue, when he starts by slamming the door on impartiality with his Aipac speech in the primaries, delivers mixed messages and false hope to both sides later, fails to pressure Israel while Palestinians are complying with their end of the requisites for negotiation, and worse of all, continues to enable, fund and legitimize the systematic oppression of Palestinians under Israeli control?

Nothing good will ever come of this misguided policy and anyone who believes that you can foment peace on the back of oppression and injustice is selling you bill of goods for a shaky bridge over a cavernous ravine.

I suggest he stop legitimizing injustice first, so he can present himself as an honest broker. Then he should reward the side in compliance of the prerequisites necessary for negotiation by pressuring the other side to deliver their end of the bargain rather than pander to them and coddle their procrastination.

He is doing none of the above and the outcome is predictable.

[skialethia]

04:04 PM on 01/03/2010

Hopefully part 2 will be posted. This is not part 2.

[ArjenBoatsma]

02:21 PM on 01/03/2010

I know President Clinton put a good deal of effort into the Middle East peace process, and indeed, his latest attempt toward the end of his presidency failed, but not for lack of effort on Clinton's part. The Bush Presidency also failed with at the Middle East peace process in its last year, but that was because the Bush Presidency didn't do anything for the first seven years, except completely scr_wing over the Middle East. So declaring Obama a failure after only 10 months, in which he at least put a great deal of effort into it, is slightly premature, and reeks of a poor journalistic attitude of Time Magazine.

[MikeDu]

12:20 PM on 01/03/2010

Yeh right, Obama's to blame for the middle east in exactly the same way the Democrats are to blame for congress not getting anything done. Those lunatic hard-right obstructionists blocking all progress in both instances get none of the blame at all, right?

[MacQ]

09:12 AM on 01/04/2010

The president's party has a majority. You need to blame someone besides the republicans.
I guess they haven't worked out a way to pay each other quite enough to get things passed. Yet.

[PWM]

05:36 PM on 01/04/2010

Does not work that way. Unlike the GOP lemmings, the Dems have their own views and are not all on the same bandwagon.

[4TJefferson]

12:05 PM on 01/03/2010

Gosh. I did not know Barack was President in 10th century when the crusades began?

[MacQ]

09:13 AM on 01/04/2010

No Bush was, undoubtedly.
:-)

[Marlyn]

11:57 AM on 01/03/2010

"Israel's electorate had installed a right-wing governing coalition"

So this is Obama's fault????????

[skialethia]

12:11 AM on 01/04/2010

Every hear of withholding funding? Ever hear of sanctions? Ever hear of not providing the veto that protects Israel against Resolutions that condemn their illegal activities?

All I hear is everyone making excuses.

[MacQ]

09:16 AM on 01/04/2010

So your solution would be to hasten the demise of Israel, then voila, mideast peace.
That's pretty much like saying the solution to slavery is just kill them all.