36 Hours In Israel (With Barack Obama)

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http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=36_hours_in_israel_with_barack_obama

36 Hours In Israel (With Barack Obama)

When John McCain visited Israel last March hardly anyone noticed. When Barack Obama did the same this week he caused a sensation.


Gershom Gorenberg | July 25, 2008 | web only

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Heir Apparent: John McCain came to Israel in March. I had to google the date. Colleagues couldn't remember it, nor could I. It barely registered on the political Richter Scale.

Obama was treated not as a candidate, but as heir apparent -- as crown prince of an empire with an ill and absent emperor. On Wednesday morning, Obama breakfasted with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Labor party. Originally, Obama was supposed to travel to Sderot with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Barak insisted it was his prerogative, since the trip would deal with security issues. Livni graciously agreed to share her time with Prince Obama.

Livni is the number two figure in the ruling Kadima party. With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert the target of converging corruption scandals, the party is expected to hold a leadership vote in September. That might lead to a Livni-led government, or to national elections in which she'd face off against Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, now head of the rightwing Likud opposition.

Netanyahu also met with Obama. Asked afterward in a radio interview who he preferred to see as U.S. president, Netanyahu said he wouldn't get involved in U.S. politics. He did say that he'd met McCain once, and this was his second meeting with Obama, and that they were equally devoted to Israel.

At a minimum, Israeli politicians showed they can read American polls. Livni, Barak and Netanyahu each imagine visiting the Oval Office as prime minister and do not want to slight Obama beforehand. But all three went well beyond being correct. They appeared eager to share Obama's glow. They wanted photos to use in their own as-yet-unscheduled campaigns. While the American media continues to ask whether Obama is sufficiently pro-Israel to win in Miami, Israeli politicians are already trying to ride his coattails with their own public.

Removing the Roadblock: On Wednesday evening, Obama dined with Olmert. Beforehand, a news report cited "a senior Jerusalem official" as saying the prime minister would "emphasize his desire for U.S. involvement in the Syria-Israel negotiations, with an eye toward advancing them and turning them into direct, bilateral talks." Olmert would "point out to Obama the negotiations can contribute to U.S. interests."

At the moment, talks with Syria are indirect, mediated by Turkey. Even those talks show the Bush Administration's fading influence in Jerusalem. But the administration's resistance to diplomacy with Damascus is still a roadblock: Syria wants a peace deal to include an opening to the United States.

Put aside Olmert's amazing optimism in believing that he'll still be in office, dickering with Damascus, come next January 20. The leak from his immediate vicinity suggests that he is tired of Bush's obstructionism, that he's hoping for a new policy in Washington. He, too, wants change.