Obama Defenders: What Brzezinski Guy? (Plus: That's Not Even Their Worst Argument)

Here's how the latest Obama shill to be trotted out for an Israeli paper - Rep. Robert Wexler - responded to Republican concerns regarding Brzezinski's role in the Obama campaign:

Zbigniew Brzezinski: Zell says Brzezinski heads the Obama foreign policy team. This is false. Brzezinski endorsed Barack Obama because he agrees with Senator Obama's views on Iraq. He is not an adviser to the campaign, and has done no work for the campaign.

And here's a quote appearing in the upcoming Newsweek given by Brzezinski:

But Brzezinski, who tells Newsweek he has advised Obama "only on occasion," has a reputation that is close to toxic in the American Jewish community. "When Brzezinski's name appears on an advisory list, that's a red flag right away," says an influential American Jewish leader who did not want to sour relations with the Obama campaign.

And here's WaPo's list of each campaign's foreign policy advisers, where Brzezinski appears in Obama's column. All of which makes it seem like Obama's top defense for his obsessively anti-Israel adviser is a demonstrable lie. One wonders what the 2nd-place talking point is.

Although we do agree Wexler's point that "the national security team that emerges around Mr. Obama is one that is in the mainstream of the Democratic Party" (no kidding). But that in turn makes his defenses of Robert Malley and Susan Rice particularly tenuous. He's basically making the same argument that Rosner trotted out last week about Samantha Power, yet another anti-Israel Obama adviser - that while all of Obama's top advisers may be hostile to close US-Israel ties, they're not as anti-Israel as everyone says they are. That's reassuring.

As far as Obama himself goes, Wexler says that Obama considers Israel an important US ally - something Obama couldn't bring himself to actually say when he got the question. And then he implies that Obama wouldn't push Israel to negotiate with terrorists - except Obama brags about how he would. But no one's allowed to point that out, because that will destroy the bipartisan commitment to the US-Israeli alliance. As for all this gushing about Obama's strong support from young Illinois Jews - spare us.

References:
* Obama is a strong friend of Israel [Robert Wexler]
* Good for the Jews? [Newsweek]
* The War Over the Wonks [WaPo]
* Obama's Foreign Policy Advisers Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Ha'aretz Panel Confirms: "Democrats Are The Pro-Israel Party" Is Really Fucking Retarded [MR]
* Obama`s top adviser says does not believe in imposing a peace settlement [Ha'aretz]
* Obama May Or May Not Think That Israel Is An Important US Ally [MR]
* Obama: "I'm Not Saying Israel Should Have To Take Risks For Peace, But..." [MR]
* Another Success For Reform Judaism - Half Of Young American Jews Untroubled By Potential Destruction Of Israel [MR]