Jeff Blankfort says I'm getting carried away re the left having influence with Obama. I remain optimistic, but it's good to get a reality check:
You're getting a litle carried away with the suggestion that the "left"
or anyone remotely close to what there is of it, will have a seat at
Obama's table, particularly when it comes to the Middle East. If he
selects the odious Emanuel as his chief of staff, such a blatant
pandering to Israel and its US supporters so soon, is a harbinger of
what we can expect a BO administration to look like and how we can
expect it to act.
He is also rumored to be ready to pick Larry Summers
as his Treasury Secretary which is a very important position not only
for its domestic implications but for US financial dealings with
foreign countries and at the moment Iran in particular. Summers,
another landsman, has equated anti-Zionism with anti-semitism and is
another hawk on Israel. Then there's good old Dennis Ross who already
has a seat reserved at the head table.
I watched the Emanuel
speech on Lebanon and the capturing of the Israeli soldiers and he
seemed little more than semi-literate and as loose with facts as Sarah
Palin but not nearly as good looking or as good a speaker. I was worried
about him becoming the first Jewish president but he'll need a lot of
help from the Hollywood crowd because right now he's a clod at the
podium.
Re Obama, there is no question that he is probably as
intelligent as anyone who has occupied the White House but his
abandonment of one progressive position after another during the
campaign, with hardly a whimper from his throngs of loyal supporters,
does not bode well. We need these young people who were turned on by
his charm and the promise of something better than what we've had for
decades to find the combination to the brain they locked away and build
a movement that Obama cannot ignore. Given our history, the odds are
against that happening, but as Obama said, this country has proved that
nothing is impossible. I only wish I could truly believe that.
Update. Jack Ross had the following response to Blankfort's analysis:
Neither the White House Chief of Staff
nor the Treasury Secretary has ANY mandate in foreign policy. Calm
down people. We're still looking at the dynamic trio of Richardson, Hagel, and Zinni. If I'm proven wrong there, then we'll talk.
I think Jack's overstating it re chief of staff and Treasury. But I am an optimist, too.
