Israel Matzav

Clinton's role in Obama's failed Muslim outreach

Jennifer Rubin says that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deserves some of the blame for the miserable state of President Obama's Middle East policies.

The Egyptian elections are yet another failure for Obama's "Muslim outreach." Our quiet diplomacy -- the Obama team likes to refer to its efforts as "smart" diplomacy -- has proven to be utterly ineffective. It's clear that Hosni Mubarak doesn't take the administration very seriously. And in fact that's increasingly true throughout the Middle East.

The Post reported yesterday:

Syria's fresh interference in Lebanon and its increasingly sophisticated weapons shipments to Hezbollah have alarmed American officials and prompted Israel's military to consider a strike against a Syrian weapons depot that supplies the Lebanese militia group, U.S. and Israeli officials say.

The evidence of a resurgence by Syria and its deepening influence across the region has frustrated U.S. officials who sought to change Syrian behavior. But the Obama administration has so far failed through its policy of engagement to persuade the country to abandon its support for Hezbollah and sever its alliance with Iran.

It seems that soft-peddling human rights, sending Sen. John Kerry there to yuck it up with Bashar al-Assad, and sipping frappucinos with the Syrians (complete with live-tweeting of their dessert parties) didn't do the trick. Neither did ignoring the violation of the UN Resolution. And the attempt to deploy an ambassador never made it out of the Senate.

Syria is now closer than ever to Iran, its influence in Lebanon has never been greater and the U.S.'s standing has since WWII never been weaker. Some are calling for Hillary Clinton's scalp over the WikiLeaks leaks, something she had little control over. Her contribution to the state of our Middle East policy, however, is something else. But, you object, this is all a reflection of Obama's own flawed vision. True, but nothing to do about that for a couple of years. And meanwhile, the centrifuges keep spinning in Iran.

Given that Mrs. Clinton says she has no interest in running for any elected office in the future, one has to wonder why she is not taking a position that is more independent of the Obama administration. Unless she has decided that she doesn't care about her place in history either.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, pandering to Muslims

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:51 PM