President Obama’s greatest asset may be his greatest liability

President Obama’s greatest asset may be his greatest liability. His way with words is quite exceptional. He is a master at form over substance. His recent speech on Israel is a good example.

Forget for a moment whether or not you agree with his position and focus on his public words. You have to ask why the leader of the free world would say what he did about Israel’s borders in public. Doesn’t such a proclamation change the dynamics of negotiations for both sides? Doesn’t it create unrealistic expectations in one case and a hardening of position in the other?

Leader of the Army of the Holy War 1948

The fact is that any hope of a permanent resolution after nearly seventy years of conflict does require radically new thinking on both sides, assuming both sides are motivated to resolution. But that does not mean the President of the United States should be exercising his rhetorical skills on public specific suggestions.

I negotiated union contracts for thirty years and you quickly learn what to say and not say in public, at the bargaining table and in private meetings where the real work is done. You will not hear a CEO publicly state in advance of negotiations that union workers must pay 25% of health insurance costs, but rather that costs must be reduced and controlled. Proposals are exchanged in a comprehensive fashion so each party is able to see where compromise is and is not possible and what alternatives may be considered.

Whomever is advising our President needs a reality check in human nature and the world beyond the beltway.

P.S. Any real resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict must include a country for the Palestinians which may well include changes in borders, but why limit that to Israel? Other Arab countries are equally responsible for this decades long mess, let them donate some land for their brethren as well.

 

Related articles

• Obama, Netanyahu and the 1967 border | Petra Marquardt-Bigman (guardian.co.uk)
• Palestinians reject Israel speech (bbc.co.uk)
• Peace in Our Time? (papundits.wordpress.com)