Soccer Dad

Like the singin' bird and the croakin' toad, I got a name - and israelis don't like it

via memeorandum

Haaretz reports, Obama: Israelis suspicious of me because my middle name is Hussein

During the interview Wednesday, when confronted with the anxiety that some Israelis feel toward him, Obama said that "some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion."

"Ironically, I've got a Chief of Staff named Rahm Israel Emmanuel. My top political advisor is somebody who is a descendent of Holocaust survivors. My closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the U.S. Senate," Obama said.

Yikes. Really, this has nothing to do with the color of his skin or the sound of his middle name; it really has to do with the content of his character.

When someone like Jackson Diehl, who can't be classified as pro-Israel, wrote last year in "End the spat with Israel":

The result of such posturing is that the administration now faces a choice between a protracted confrontation with Israel -- an odd adventure given the pressing challenges from Iran and in Iraq, not to mention the disarray of the Palestinian camp -- or a compromise, which might make Obama look weak and provide Arab states further cause to refuse cooperation. The White House, I'm told, still hopes Netanyahu will accept a construction moratorium, with a time limit and perhaps a waiver for some buildings under construction. But at this point some damage is probably unavoidable: If Barak and Middle East envoy George J. Mitchell agree on any formula short of that spelled out by Clinton and her spokesman, Arab media will trumpet it as an Obama cave-in.

the President's singling out of Israel was obvious.

While last year's poll showing Israeli support of President Obama in the single digits may not have been accurate, nonetheless Israeli suspicion of the President is a real phenomenon. No matter how much the President may think that it's about who he is, the mistrust is a result of what he did.

Perhaps now things will be better between Israel and the United States - though I'd expect that change to last only until the mid-term elections later this year - but it will because President Obama will have changed his approach to the Middle East.

Crossposted on Yourish.