Netanyahu, A Proud Member of the "Party of No"?

[Clio the Leo]

All Power is Unitary
Josh Marshall | December 29, 2009, 9:21AM

I'm fond of telling friends who are more interested in foreign than domestic policy that they're two sides of the same coin in terms of the power of a president whose policies you support or oppose. And it's no less the case with Obama. As Akiva Eldar notes in Haaretz Prime Minister Netanyahu and his advisors have made little secret of their hope that President Obama would fail in his push for health care reform since it would damage him sufficiently that he'd be fatally weakened on the international stage, enough to prevent him from exerting any more pressure on Netanyahu's government for at least the remainder of Obama's first term.

An American president who fails in the domestic arena will find it difficult to garner support in Congress and the court of public opinion for important issues abroad.
Health care reform was a kind of entrance exam for Obama before tackling the Mideast. Netanyahu and his aides did not conceal their hope that Obama would slip up and lose prestige at home and abroad.

They assumed that a stinging defeat in this important area would tie Obama's hands and force him to spend more time shoring up his position and the strength of his party.

To me, what's unfortunate is that Obama failed to make some key moves in the spring when his standing was unassailable. Perhaps forcing the matter of settlements was the wrong place to make an early stand. I'm not sure about that. But it was a missed opportunity not to define the relationship with Netanyahu early in a very different way.

Still, it would be wrong not to recognize the health care victory as a crucial development abroad, particularly in Israel-Palestine, as well.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/12/all_power_is_unitary.php#more?ref=fpblg

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. There were articles a few weeks ago that speculated this was the reason why Droopy Dog Lieberdouche

was REALLY opposed to any actual health care reform - because he wanted to weaken Obama's ability to pressure that batshit crazy genocidal lunatic NuttyYahoo.

The fact that it also helped Hadassah's bank account didn't discourage his efforts, of course.

[Clio the Leo]

2. yeah .... I hadn't even thought of that aspect of it.....

... wow.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. That wouldn't surprise me, although I think the latter explanation is the bulk of it

I think ultimately Droopy Dog obstructed health care for primarily financial reasons. But I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason was to backstab the President.

[Cha]

3. Of course he is and as I saw the first

poster mentioning that could be lieberman's reasoning too..it all became to clear to me.

[Arkana]

4. Netanyahu's a right-wing prick, news at 11

[IndianaGreen]

6. This may sound familiar to you: Sharon formed Kadima Party because Likud got too crazy

What happens when a rightwing party becomes too rightwing for even many rightwingers?

Kadima is moderate when compared to Likud.

Labour is full of war hawks and appeasers, so they joined Likud in coalition.

Israeli has multiparty elections.