President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”. In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement. The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign statesman since taking office. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and King Abdullah of Jordan.
Wow. I guess he really is a friend to all nations. Even to nations that aren’t really nations because their most exuberant partisans are genocidal terrorists. At least Abbas isn’t a notorious Holocaust denier who occassionally declares that the Palestinians should use their US-supplied weapons to wipe out Israel.
I’ve been thinking about it, though, and I think that this snub is still less egregious than his post-election snub of India. He made a well-leaked show of calling Pakistani leaders while neglecting to respond to India’s congratulations. Then – when the snub became a political scandal in India – he called China while still refusing to call Singh back. That seemed a little weird because in some diplomatic circles it could be perceived as geopolitical payback for India’s steadfast support of Bush.
Two potential pro-Obama excuses why the India thing wasn’t petulant diplomatic payback:
(1) “It wasn’t a deliberate snub – he’s just really bad at handling highly-symbolic phone calls” – he created an identical scandal in the Phillipines by not acknowledging their congratulations, even while Filipino media noticed that he had found time to give a nod in Iran’s direction. So it could have been simple rank incompetence.
(2) “He had to call Pakistan first – his previous blunders had endangered what’s left of US-Pakistani relations” – after publicly threatening to bomb sovereign Pakistani territory during the election he gave a post-election interview where he arguably endorsed an Indian attack in response to Mumbai. So it could have been a bumbling post-hoc attempt to repair the diplomatic rifts created by his vaunted “judgment.”
The Abbas call though: that was obviously deliberate.
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* President Obama’s first call ‘was to President Abbas’ [Times Online]
* The first day: President Obama to embrace role in meetings on Iraq and economy [Ha'aretz]
* Whoops, we forgot just one tiny little thing [Soccer Dad]
* Abbas: Good Chance We’ll Use Our US Security Assistance To Go Back To Killing Israelis [MR]
* At Last Manmohan Singh Gets Call From Barack Obama [ABC Live]
* ‘Snub’ to India? Obama calls Hu Jintao
* Obama Disses the Philippines
* Obama’s first gaffe? [FP Passport]
Previously:
* Dennis Ross: "I’m Endorsing Obama Because He’ll Make Iran And Iran’s Financial Backers Like Us"
* Obama White House Going Back To Stone Age Public Diplomacy: "Spread The Truth About American Values" (Plus: Obama’s "Ominous Evasiveness" About Cast Lead)
* No Kidding: Obama To Pressure Israel On Its Nuclear Deterrent
