Ron Fournier is the master of the both sides do it game, and can tailor any situation to fit his bipartisan narrative. Regarding the unorthodox invitation extended by Boehner to Israeli P.M. Netanyahu, Fournier claims everyone on both sides has made some mistakes, but of course, the ball is in the president's court now, so he needs to acquiesce to the Speaker. Apparently, the Speaker of the House is a higher ranking official than the President of the United States. Fournier said,
...politically, if you're not looking at this through one of your ideological prism, on the right or the left, or you're just an average American out there just kind of plugging into this, you're asking yourself first of all, why is the House speaker embarrassing the commander-in-chief? Why is the president refusing to meet and snubbing the Israeli prime minister? And why is Netanyahu mucking around American politics? I think politically, everyone needs to realize that we're all on the same side and the common enemy here is Iran, the potential of them getting a nuclear weapon. We can disagree how we go about doing it, but we shouldn't play petty political games along the way.
According to Fournier, it was perfectly acceptable for Boehner to attempt to undermine the United State's current negotiations with Iran by going behind the president's back and inviting a bellicose and uncooperative foreign leader to speak before Congress. So, no Ron, we are not all on the same side. Fournier sees that perhaps Boehner was a little out of line, but President Obama is now being petulant for not meeting with Bibi when he visits the U.S. merely two weeks before his own elections in Israel (March 17 is election day). Basically, the die is cast and Obama has no choice, according to Fournier, but to meet with the foreign man the Republican party adores like he was the Second Messiah.
This situation isn't just a case of President Obama not being a proper statesman. There are ulterior motives for Bibi's foray into U.S. politics. He is facing a tough election. The opposition party led by Tzipi Livni allied with Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog, will be combined with Livni's party Hatnua, in an electoral alliance, now officially called "The Zionist Camp."
In a recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, a full 60 percent of the public disapproved of the way "The Government is handling the country's problems." Even among self-defined right-wing voters, 56 percent disapproved of the government's performance
This Netanyahu/Boehner affair, from the president's perspective, is just a political stunt that's designed to undermine Secretary of State Kerry's Middle Eastern diplomacy and bolster Bibi's reelection prospects. Likudniks in Israel are certainly not interested in facilitating any sort of peace in the region, especially based on what we saw this summer in Gaza. Israel has been utterly intractable and disrespectful of John Kerry while they bomb(ed) the bejesus out of Palestinians in Gaza. This has made our own peacekeeping efforts nearly impossible.
Many Israelis see this as an obvious stunt and disapprove of this unusual visit to the U.S.
Netanyahu’s invitation to Congress by the Republican House speaker, John Boehner – two weeks before Israel goes to the polls – has attracted fierce criticism from US officials off the record, a cool reception from the State Department in public and sceptical commentary from Israeli columnists who have accused Netanyahu of engineering the speech to further his struggling election prospects...That should be worrying for Israel, which, in the face of growing frustration in Europe over its policies in the occupied territories, has become ever more reliant on the US and its veto on the UN security council.
It seems the only ones who would benefit from the PM's visit are the GOP, who is more loyal to the Israeli PM than their own president; and the far-right, nationalistic Likudniks who have helped orchestrate this semi-clandestine stunt. It's sure as hell not a both sides do it situation. It's an obvious power grab for a leader who would love to use the American military to do his bidding in a Holy War with Iran. The fact that our Congress would enable such traitorous proceedings is unprecedented and highly offensive. Of course, Ron Fournier is never offended by the actions of the GOP.
