If I were a patriot, in the sense of one who prioritize the value
and importance of my own country over all other countries and one who holds the belief that
my country had a special status in the world, what Mitt Romney embraces as American
exceptionalism, I would be outraged at Romney's recent statements in Israel. He
states that he would never publicly criticize Israel. That's great if you're an
Israeli patriot, but for an American president to give up the right to publicly
critique another country takes a basic diplomatic tool out of America's
foreign-policy toolbox. It is a lie when Romney suggests that all options for
dealing with Iran should be on the table, when at the same time he is taking
options off the table.
Romney might say that he would criticize Israel but not in
public (I don't know if he would say this or not) and while that is fine there
are times when speaking critiques of your friends in public has the potential
to give you more standing when critiquing your enemies. While this type of “option”
does not fit with the bullying, world domination attitude that Romney usually projects, it is
an option which he has taken off the table.
The “don't tell American what we can and cannot do” crowd
should be incensed. I would be very interested to here of any conservative blog
that took issue with Romney for saying he would never publicly critique Israel.
Romney's time in Israel deserves critique for many things,
for instance, his fundraising from
foreign millionaires, and his racist comments about the failure of Palestinian
development. But the squaring of American exceptionalism with a blanket no public
criticism of Israel policy deserves the
concern of American conservatives.
