Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Romney to Israel "your country right or wrong"


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.

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