You remember the iconic line from “The Godfather”: “It’s not personal. … It’s strictly business.”
But when it comes to President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is personal and not business.
Netanyahu’s visit to address a joint session of Congress next week on the Iran nuclear threat has caused a major upheaval. The invitation was extended not in the usual manner, but solely by Republican Speaker John Boehner (Ohio). Boehner deliberately, and I believe with some relish, wanted to cause some trouble — and he has succeeded.
The president has said that he will not see Netanyahu because there are elections in Israel on March 17 and he does not want to interfere with that event. This is totally bogus. The president is insulted by not being consulted and he is simply retaliating. Going one step further, Vice President Biden who, as president of the Senate would be sitting behind the prime minister when he gives his speech, will be a no-show.
Biden has been a very ardent supporter of the state of Israel, but he knows his role as second fiddle, and would dare not take an independent action which would displease Obama. This entire episode is a class example of one of the great maxims of American politics: “Don’t get angry — get even.” Each of the players gets the golden opportunity to get even.
{mosads}First, Boehner gets to play big shot. Oh yes, there’s some rhetoric about “co-equal branch of the government,” but that’s legal expert Alan Dershowitz’s word play. Boehner wants to diminish Obama and this is a power trip. He is that petty and small. Boehner, in addition, scores points for appearing to be more pro-Israel than the president. The Republican Party has always wanted to get more of the urban big-state Jewish vote, and this is a way to do just that. Clever.
Obama and Netanyahu, everybody knows, are not the presidents of each other’s fan club. In fact, they probably can’t stand each other. This has already been amply demonstrated. The president a few years back was heard on an open microphone at one of the G-8 summits complaining to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany how much he disliked “dealing with Netanyahu” and had to do it nearly every day.
Netanyahu, who speaks English perfectly (he went to high school in suburban Philadelphia and college at M.I.T.), is diabolically adroit at the use of the American idiom. No one will ever forget his dressing down and his tutorial lecture of the president a little while ago. This took place in the Oval office. The cameras were rolling and the look on Obama’s face said it all. Obama, with his outward customary cool, had a look on his face of total disbelief.
Netanyahu, by accepting Boehner’s nontraditional invitation, knows exactly what he is doing. He’s got a surprisingly tight election two weeks back home and he knows that his countrymen don’t particularly like him and might be tiring of him. But they do respect him and see him as prime-ministerial material. Look, politics is theater. He needs to appear in a setting that reaffirms him in that lofty position.
None of this would ever have occurred if Obama and Netanyahu had hit it off or had a modicum of affection or mutual respect. Neither thinks the other is a mensch. They can’t say it out loud, but deep down I believe each of them is enjoying embarrassing the other. The essential relationship between friend and ally will not be altered.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will be there, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will be there and after Netanyahu’s speech they will say all the appropriate words and express the proper sentiments, thus attempting to keep Jewish voters firmly in the Democratic Party camp.
The legendary former Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill (D-Mass.) was often quoted as saying “All politics is local.” His son, Kip, told me his revered father correctly said, “All politics is personal.” When it comes to Obama and Netanyahu, that magic essential quality is totally missing.
Plotkin is a political analyst, a contributor to the BBC on American politics and a columnist for The Georgetowner.