We don't want to be a total downer in our first post of 2009 but we can only write 'fine' in reference to the new year and this MTP week for all the obvious reasons - the economy, 2 wars, and a fresh Israeli assault on the Palestinians in Gaza - not quite the best circumstances for holiday cheer. Unfortunately, we can not say that today's exclusive with Senate Majority Harry Reid of Nevada was any sort of Alka-Seltzer for our political hangover. Make no mistake, if we haven't been perfectly clear in prior posts, let's make it crystal here now. This column does not endorse Senator Reid as majority leader of the Democratic Party in Senate one iota. Today's interview is exhibit A for this new prosecution.
First, credit should be given to Mr. Gregory for justifiably hammering Mr. Reid on a number of things starting with the appointment of Roland Burris by the embattled Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. Just listening to Senator Reid, you get the sense of an absence of sound judgement or power of persuasion. Now granted, the Governor, who is not yet under indictment, can still appointment someone to fill the seat, but that the national Democratic caucus, of which Senator Reid is a key power broker, has not used it's full leverage to curtail these shenanigans by this rogue governor, speaks directly to the impotency of the Democratic Party when it comes to getting tough. Isn't that what we want - tough but fair?
Mr. Reid cited a law that goes back 'generations' that the congress can reject a member, they can 'do whatever we want,' he said. We, the public, don't need a law citation to know that Congress will do whatever it wants. They have pretty much established that for some time.
Throughout the entire interview, Senator did not give one firm definitive answer, instead choosing the 'nuanced,' dance-around-like retorts that Americans have come to loathe. It is this kind of bullshit, frankly, that needs to be eliminated. Senator Reid had said that in his estimation the war [in Iraq] is lost and the surge has done nothing. When pressed on this by Mr. Gregrory, he said that General Petraeus said that the war can not be won militarily. Senator Reid went on to say that he and General Petraeus said the same thing in different ways. That is absolutely not what Senator Reid meant at the time and for him to back pedal and parry is that exact quality that we do not need in our leaders. If he had just said that, at the time, that was the outlook of the war and now, thank God, that's not the case, wouldn't you respect him more? Great leaders can admit they were mistaken as long as they show that they have learned from those mistakes and don't repeat them.
Simply put, Senator Reid is exasperating as a Majority Leader. With regard to the Illinois political mess, he summed it up saying that there is always room for negotiating. Yes, that's true, but negotiating is one thing, continually bending over is another.
At the top of the program, Mr. Gregory spoke to Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent, from Israel about the situation on the ground there and that's where the panel discussion picked up with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, BBC World News America's Katty Kay, Al-Arabiya's Hisham Melhem, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and The New York Times' David Sanger.
One of the key points from the panel, made by Katty Kay specifically, is that at the center of it all is Iran and it's goal of being the definitive power in the region. Hamas, like Hezbollah, is empowered by Iran, but since there is no government who has effective leverage over Iran, what is done instead are the attempts to cut off the terrorist tentacles. No one wants to deal with Iran directly, but that is exactly what must be done in conjunction with stopping instigating rocket assaults into Israel by Hamas. Indirect talks and bellicose statements with Iran no longer suffice.
Another key point is that Israel, the United States, and their allies must take advantage of the fact the moderate Arab governments are simply tired of Hamas and their actions. This must be propagated to the Arab public, and this is what will truly change the dynamic. With constant protests across Arab streets, nothing will change the status quo.
Also, going back to Senator Reid for a moment, in reference to Israeli ground assault, he used the hypothetical that if Canada were firing missiles from Vancouver into Seattle, the United States would do everything to stop it. This column's reaction is this: stop with the hypotheticals, especially one like this that is ridiculous. Say what you mean... Do you support what Israel is doing or not? If so, say so... period.
Lastly, if a tenable situation can be created, in which and Hamas would be forced to create a job, an infrastructure development, a medical facility for its people as the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank wants to start accomplishing, then desired results would come. If Hamas fails at this, as this column suspects, then the Arab public themselves will make a change. Hamas hasn't proven in the slightest that they, as an elected entity, can provide the basic needs for its citizenry. They can blame embargos, but if they had the needs of their people truly put first, they would do what they can to get them lifted.
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