We briefed Jeffrey Goldberg’s report of Obama administration outrage at Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of his public dress-down of the president in May (the history lesson in the Oval Office) and, more substantially, his refusal to bring more to the Palestinian table.
The natural question, and one Goldberg raises in his piece, is why would Netanyahu go out of his way to risk pissing off an ally?
The answer, in a smart piece by Dan Drezner at Foreign Policy: What’s the risk, exactly?
President Obama is pro-Israel, and domestic and strategic considerations — as well as his own foreign policy, which we can see from the Libya adventure is based on alliances with strong, assertive partners — are not going to make him less so. The GOP is more pro-Israel; what has Bibi got to lose by seeking the better offer?
Cast it as a nighttime soap: If Lance’s wife Clarissa is slavishly devoted to him, in part because he’s a fab business partner, in part because the kids love him so, why shouldn’t he fool around with Ophelia, who at least doesn’t nag, nag, nag? What’s Clarissa gonna do? Leave?
Drezner notably calls this a "short term" strategy. Clarissa might, indeed, one day say enough is enough. There are other investors wanting into the family business. And cool goes only so far: The kids could turn on Lance for fooling around.
Bibi’s ostensible strategy, as outlined by Drezner, could longterm erode Israel’s most important U.S. asset: bipartisan support.
But not by 2012. And probably not by the time Bibi retires.
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