You Never Know

As I predicted earlier this month, John Kerry's bumbling efforts to pressure Israel into a peace agreement with the amorphous Palestinians has crashed and burned. Among many examples of the Obama administration's real position on Israel, Kerry suggested that Israel would be censured internationally, isolated, and otherwise condemned by the international community for refusing to commit national suicide and make "peace" with an entity that is sworn to their destruction. The Obama administration worked hard to isolate our only true ally in the Middle East. They failed.

Richard Fernandez comments and quotes a dejected New York Times in the process:

Another catastrophe has overtaken John Kerry. It’s almost routine now. The Middle East peace process that was going to fix everything has finally gone belly up. John Kerry’s tireless overtures have somehow resulted in the Palestinian authority joining Hamas. You wonder how he did that. That alliance with the terror organization deep-sixed any hopes for a deal with Israel. The New York Times dolefully reports that things aren’t working out as planned:

The unity pact, coming days before the April 29 expiration date for the American-brokered peace talks that have been the mainstay of Secretary of State John Kerry’s tenure, surprised officials in Washington, which, like Israel, deems Hamas a terrorist group and forbids direct dealings with it. After months of intensive shuttle diplomacy in which Mr. Kerry staked his reputation on the peace process and even dangled the possibility of releasing an American convicted of spying for Israel to salvage the lifeless talks, his spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, called the Palestinian move “disappointing” and the timing “troubling.”

“Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” Ms. Psaki said, citing conditions Hamas has repeatedly rejected. “It’s hard to see how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a government that does not believe in its right to exist.”

When asked to name just a single foreign policy accomplishment by the Obama administration under either Hillary Clinton or John Kerry, Ms. Psaki seemed momentarily stumped.

Again, Fernandez comments:

Less charitable observers have charged that Clinton and Obama have presided over an unending string of foreign policy catastrophes including the inexplicable mixup in Libya resulting from switching sides in the ‘War on Terror’ and allowing 500 million of weapons to reach al-Qaeda militants.

That’s a pretty serious accusation whose only mitigating circumstance is that they might have done it by accident. With this crowd — who promised “smart diplomacy” — you never know which disasters are intentional and which are simply caused by imbecility. When the president is not out trying to treat Putin like a doorman, Kerry pulls a wrong way Corrigan. That’s on days when Hillary isn’t watching consulates getting torched by mobs inspired by YouTube video producers.

What is perhaps most alarming is the inexhaustible vein of of incompetence in the administration. Clinton, Obama, Kerry and Sebelius are world-class somethings, though what exactly world-class-whats is debatable. Opening the newspapers has almost become painful exercise in observing “another one bites the dust”.

This time it’s the Middle East peace process. You’re almost tempted to say: stop! stop! It’s too painful to watch.

During the Bush presidency, the media leaped at any opportunity to point out how "stupid" George W. Bush actually was. But the travails of his administration pale in comparison to the abject failure of the Obama administration in both the domestic and foreign policy realm. An "inexhaustible vein of incompetence" hits it right on the head.

But we were told repeatedly in 2008 and again in 2012 that Barack Obama is smart, really, really smart! And yet, his smart diplomacy has lead us to a place where "you never know which disasters are intentional and which are simply caused by imbecility."

Scary!