Reply #25: I think that was the point of Kerry and Biden giving back to back speeches [View All]

at AIPAC that were different, but perfectly compatible and in line with what Obama said yesterday. They also have George Mitchell working this issue and he is respected on both sides. Those speeches were given before American Jews, most in line with Likkud. (the majority of Jews are more likely to agree with the various peace organizations.) This was a concerted attempt to win over the strongest advocates to seeing that Obama's peace effort is what is best for Israel, the Middle East and the world. This is an effort to proactively gain the political high ground, to minimize the support for Israel rejecting this by winning over the people who backed intransigence in the past.

Last Friday, Senator Kerry did the parallel thing at a conference in Jordan when he eloquently spoke of the need for Arab countries to support the moderates and not the extremists. He did this in such a thoughtful eloquent fashion that made sense and was widely applauded by the audience. King Abdullah later agreed and praised his comment. (Kerry's comment starts at about 41 minutes in. http://www.weforum.org/en/knowledge/Events/KN_SESS_SUMM_28780?url=/en/knowledge/Events/KN_SESS_SUMM_28780 )

This is the first time that I have ever seen a concerted effort of this sort to challenge both sides to live up to their own values - which all these things did. I assume there are others, notably George Mitchell, who are also involved in this issue. The ironic thing is that we are doing this now, when America's ability to speak of moral leadership is still recovering from the last 8 years (as well as, to a lesser degree the last half century). (Note - I do not mean just Obama and the US, leaders like King Abullah have been the leaders.) If it succeeds it will be an enormous victory for moral leadership and win/win for both Israel and the Arab world.