Israel Matzav

An end unto itself

In the Washington Post, Jackson Diehl argues that President Obama's foreign policy consists entirely of timetables, which have no basis in reality. Here's some of what Diehl has to say about Obama's Middle East policy.

In the Middle East negotiations, counterproductive timetables are multiplying. The one-year deadline for completing talks seems to have derived from a two-year deadline established last year by Obama's envoy, George Mitchell. Meanwhile, Israel's 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank has expired, prompting the administration to press for a new 60- to 90-day deadline.

Once again the timetables are disconnected from a strategy. Is it possible that Netanyahu and Abbas can agree on the borders of a Palestinian state in less than 60 days and end the settlement debate? No. But then, what will happen when the next deadline arrives? Discussion will be forced on yet another timetable.

Process is always important to good policy -- and yes, the Bush administration sometimes demonstrated what can go wrong when there are no deadlines. Yet in the Obama administration, the timetable is becoming an end in itself. It reflects a president who is fixed on disposing of foreign policy problems -- and not so much on solving them.

That's what happens when you attribute a fierce moral urgency to things that really aren't urgent at all.

The problem is that I see Obama getting angry and frustrated as time goes on and he doesn't get his way with a likely Republican dominated Congress. Can he retrench? I'm not betting on it. Will he take it out on America's allies like Israel? He'll certainly try. I see Obama's relations with Israel going south again right after the upcoming elections.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:24 AM