Tonight I had another of the endless exchanges I've had with friends about Who is Rahm Emanuel? And what does it mean for Obama and the Middle East? Of course we can't answer that, which makes it so exciting, it's a mystery. And though I see the religious zealot in Emanuel, I would argue that Obama fully understands the Meaning of the Israel/Palestine issue for America's image and for the stability of the Middle East, and that Emanuel is no dummy either, and this is the stuff of history. And as David Axelrod said on "60 Minutes," it wasn't personal ambition to become president that kept Barack Obama on the trail day after day, it was the real desire to Do things in office. And this is what has to be done. Everyone knows it.
Here is Fareed Zakaria talking to former NSC director Brent Scowcroft on his CNN show, GPS, today about the Obama election. Scowcroft begins by speaking of race:
problem which has plagued us since the founding of the republic, and
now, we have dealt with it. And people will feel good about the United
States.
Not bad for an old, white Republican. And here's the end of the interview:
incoming president-elect in terms of formulating a grand strategy, what
would it be?
SCOWCROFT: Right now, I believe that the most
troublesome area in the world is the Middle East, from the Balkans on
through Central Asia. And I think that is what has to be tackled first.
And I would start that process with the Palestinian peace process as a
way to psychologically change the mood of the region, and get the
region to start working together rather than at cross purposes, because
the Palestinian issue, while it's not important to many states in the
region, it's nonetheless — it gives the members of the region a deep
sense of injustice.
And we have removed in this country, with
this election, a lot of that sense of injustice in this country. We
ought to try to do it in the Middle East.
Thanks to Jeet Heer, who spotted this and posts on same, From Selma to Ramallah…
