Still more dividends from the Obama speech: A Palestinian minister met with an Israeli minister last week, but that will be the last of talking until Obama forces Abbas to sit down with Netanyahu. Becauase now the Palestinians are refusing to talk with Israel on any level until all their demands are met. Yep, Obama set the bar for negotiations with Israel. No settlements, not now, not ever, and so, the Palestinians are refusing to talk with Israel until all activity is frozen, even construction in Ma’ale Adumim, which is never going to be part of the Palestinian state, and the Palestinians know this. Obama and Clinton very kindly handed the Palestinians the excuse they need to continue exactly as they’re going—which is the way that enriches them the most, of course.
The freeze construction meme continues: And once again, the Arabs say that Israel must freeze all construction—of course, that includes in towns that will never be a part of the Palestinian state, such as Ma’ale Adumim—before any move will be made from the Arab side. Because so many moves have been made since 1967.
Elliott Abrams bitchslaps Jimmy Carter: I know Soccer Dad posted on it, but I can’t resist adding it to Snark News Briefs. Now this is a put-down.
The Obama speech: Get over it, people. So Obama’s going to give a speech to schoolchildren. Um. Have you forgotten how bored you were by long speeches? Please. This is not indoctrination. This is the president doing his job, which is to inspire children to work harder. Tempest in a teapot. He’s the president. He should be allowed to make speeches to students, and this sets a terrible precedent for all future presidents.
Actually, what appears to have happened is that the Department of Education issued some heavy handed “lesson plans” that would have actually been used as political propaganda. Once the parents started hearing about it and the kerfuffle blew up, they backtracked and tried to drop the instructions. Now that everyone it busy watching him, the speech that actually got written is just a normal narcissistic Obama speech. (Count the number of times he speaks about himself as opposed to others).
Yeah, this is what really peeves me off. It’s not the speech that got us mad. It was the lesson plan that went WAY beyond what the president should ever say, or ask.
Of course, popular media twisted WHY people were angry, and now it’s all about the speech, when in fact it never was!