Yesterday Jeff Blankfort and Jack Ross had a dialogue here about the unending question: what Barack Opaque Obama means for Middle East policy. Blankfort has responded:
I appreciate Jack Ross's contributions to your blog as well as his
optimism, but I think he will soon find it misplaced. Zinni will get
vetoed by the lobby's White House watchdog, that's Emanuel if he takes the job, because he has blamed the Iraq war on the neocons. Richardson has long ago proved himself adept as a lobby bootlicker, as this quote from a speech he made at the AIPAC annual conference in 1993 when he was the Demos' House Deputy Whip, clearly indicates: "I'm proud to say [the party platform]"
which he bragged about helping to write, "had the best pro-Israel
language of any Democratic platform that the party has ever had." Israel, according to Richardson,"is an anchor for American foreign policy, not just in the Middle East,
but in the world" (Near East Report, April 12, 1993) Don't count on
Hagel being asked to serve either. He may be a little too serious a war
critic for the new administration. As for the Chief of Staff
not having any clout in the policy making realm, you can be assured if
Emanuel steps down from his seat in Congress to take the job, and a
step down it will be, he will have more clout than any other Chief of
Staff. I had thought that he would get appointed by the Illinois
governor to fill Obama's seat and that might still happen. As for
Summers, he might have to go some way to even keep up with Obama who has
been Mr. Sanctions when it comes to Iran.
Right now, the Treasury big stick against Iran and any organization
that Israel considers to be terrorist is being wielded by another
landsman, Stuart Levey; and that dude has a lot of power.
optimism, but I think he will soon find it misplaced. Zinni will get
vetoed by the lobby's White House watchdog, that's Emanuel if he takes the job, because he has blamed the Iraq war on the neocons. Richardson has long ago proved himself adept as a lobby bootlicker, as this quote from a speech he made at the AIPAC annual conference in 1993 when he was the Demos' House Deputy Whip, clearly indicates: "I'm proud to say [the party platform]"
which he bragged about helping to write, "had the best pro-Israel
language of any Democratic platform that the party has ever had." Israel, according to Richardson,"is an anchor for American foreign policy, not just in the Middle East,
but in the world" (Near East Report, April 12, 1993) Don't count on
Hagel being asked to serve either. He may be a little too serious a war
critic for the new administration. As for the Chief of Staff
not having any clout in the policy making realm, you can be assured if
Emanuel steps down from his seat in Congress to take the job, and a
step down it will be, he will have more clout than any other Chief of
Staff. I had thought that he would get appointed by the Illinois
governor to fill Obama's seat and that might still happen. As for
Summers, he might have to go some way to even keep up with Obama who has
been Mr. Sanctions when it comes to Iran.
Right now, the Treasury big stick against Iran and any organization
that Israel considers to be terrorist is being wielded by another
landsman, Stuart Levey; and that dude has a lot of power.
To be continued! And yes, I'm not as pessimistic as Blankfort. I feel like we, the progressive pro-Pals, J and non-J, are getting a folding table out on Pennsylvania Avenue so that we can give Barack the high sign every once in a while. And, optimistically, that's more than the neocons are gonna have. (I'm distinguishing between an Emanuel neoconnish neolib and a true believer like Perle.)
