As an addendum to Henry Norr’s post about NPR above, I’d register the fact that tonight I heard Tom Ashbrook’s show On Point, in which David Gergen of the Kennedy School, Jack Beatty of the Atlantic, and a fellow from the Dallas Morning-News called Bill McKenzie discussed the Netanyahu contretemps. The amazing thing about the conversation is that the set-to was generally portrayed as a horrible thing (rather than a good thing for Palestinian freedom, or a necessary thing) and woe is me, when can the two countries get over it. This sort of tone was never adopted when we were talking about France. It was like we’re married to Israel. No thanks.
The second impression was that as soon as the Ashbrook threw open the call line, both callers said, We’re sick of Israel, in so many words. Israel sets our foreign policy, said one. The other said, Petraeus says, they’re endangering us. The American street, as I keep saying, is r*psh*t. And the elite commentators don’t get it.
Then the worst moment of the whole broadcast came after the calls, when first Beatty then Gergen asserted that Barack Obama can have little influence over the Israeli polity because his popularity there is so low.
Little influence over a country whose entire foreign policy is built on American support? Little influence over a country that has done nothing to mend fences with its neighbors because it can always call its rich uncle to veto Security Council resolutions? We vetoed 5 such resolutions in UN Human Rights Council in the last few days!!! Little influence over a country that gets $3 billion from us? I beg your pardon. Where is the great American independent streak. These guys are craven.
