Bob Schwartz

Our public life is in shambles.

Any public life that includes Trump—so obsessively—would be. Having a disordered personality in such a prominent role would naturally lead to chaos and a dark downward spiral. (Reminder, no matter your feelings about Biden, do vote for him to defeat Trump.)

Biden, however, has added to the shambles. His Gaza “policy” has been at least equivocal and incoherent and at most destructive and duplicitous. Which is why some traditionally Democratic voters are wondering about supporting him, and why a very small but courageous number of people in his administration have left. To counteract the disaffection and loss of confidence, Biden could have long ago injected brave straight talk and active engagement into the situation, instead of toothless rhetoric, which only made him look weak when Netanyahu ignored him.

That didn’t happen. And if the latest peace plan, which may or may not go anywhere, is meant to erase all that’s gone on, that’s just one more miscalculation.

Israel is committed to standing alone in the world. In fact, it is part of its character and a point of pride. If Biden wants to also stand alone in the world, which on Gaza he is now doing, he has his own price to pay. He seems to be calculating that being too hard on Israel is politically worse than going easy. That is proving to be a risky bet.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz