Thomas Friedman's been very wrong lately when it comes to domestic policy- his version of bipartisanship seems to be the Republicans becoming centrist and Obama staying the way he is, but he knows the Middle East, and this column from late last week is dead on:
I have great sympathy for Israel’s strategic dilemma and no illusions about its enemies. But Israel today is giving its friends — and President Obama’s one of them — nothing to defend it with. Israel can fight with everyone or it can choose not to surrender but to blunt these trends with a peace overture that fair-minded people would recognize as serious, and thereby reduce its isolation. Unfortunately, Israel today does not have a leader or a cabinet for such subtle diplomacy. One can only hope that the Israeli people will recognize this before this government plunges Israel into deeper global isolation and drags America along with it.Posted by Stephen Silver at September 21, 2011 01:52 PM