Charles in charge?
This piece in the Times, heavily feeding the pro-Israel hysteria that Obama will undercut Israel, relies heavily for its “yes he will” quotes on Charles Freeman, the former United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia . Freeman’s appointment to an intelligence post was sunk in large part by critics who pointed to the hostility he displayed to Israel in speeches like this.
In the Times piece, Freeman is quoted at length. He praises the appointments of Gen. James Jones as national security adviser and George Mitchell as special envoy to the region.
“You can’t really tell anything by what happened to me and the fact that he didn’t step forward to take on the skunks,” he said, referring to his own appointment controversy and Mr. Obama’s silence amid critics’ attacks. “The first nine months, Nixon was absolutely horrible on China. In retrospect, it was clear that he had every intention to charge ahead, but he was picking his moment. He didn’t want to have the fight before he had to have the fight.”
“I sense that Obama is picking his moment,” Mr. Freeman said.
“I sense.” Which is another way of saying, “I have no intimate knowledge of the situation or contacts among Obama’s closest advisors,” and raises the question in a reader’s mind why he is even being quoted in the first place. Why is wishful thinking by a longtime critic of U.S.-Israel policy treated as if it offers real insight into Obama’s thinking?
Before Obama’s critics start squawking about Freeman’s remarks, they should ask themselves this: Considering his scorched-earth and creepily conspiratorial attack on the “Israel lobby,” why would I believe anything Freeman says in this regard?
JustASC is written by Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the 