In fine Alinskyite tradition, Pres. Barack Obama is ready to say anything at any moment if it seems expedient. So it was that he spoke some months back of the “unbreakable bond of friendship” between the United States and Israel. The occasion was the Jewish state’s Independence Day. The proximate cause, however, was a backlash provoked by policies shot through with anti-Israeli animus — and none more so than President Obama’s obsession over the construction of Israeli housing, a subject on which the president is no less doctrinaire than his good friend Rashid Khalidi, the former PLO mouthpiece turned U.S. academic.
Was the “unbreakable bond” bit a sweet nothing, or did Obama really mean what he said? The president’s skedaddle out of the country after the mammoth electoral drubbing his policies caused his party provides a good opportunity to judge.
Showing posts with label Istiqlal Mosque. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Istiqlal Mosque. Show all posts
By Karim Raslan
Times change. Had US President Barack Obama visited Indonesia just a year ago the reception would have been electric, obsessive and overwhelming. Instead, on a heavily overcast and stormy afternoon troubled by talk of volcanic ash and airport closures, Obama landed in a country under pressure from natural disasters. He encountered a nation no longer so enamored of his rock-star appeal.
Still, the deep fondness for “Barry” Obama, the brilliant son of Indonesianist Stanley Ann Dunham, remains a constant.
Times change. Had US President Barack Obama visited Indonesia just a year ago the reception would have been electric, obsessive and overwhelming. Instead, on a heavily overcast and stormy afternoon troubled by talk of volcanic ash and airport closures, Obama landed in a country under pressure from natural disasters. He encountered a nation no longer so enamored of his rock-star appeal.
Still, the deep fondness for “Barry” Obama, the brilliant son of Indonesianist Stanley Ann Dunham, remains a constant.
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