There's been a great deal of comment about Mitt Romney's arguing that the best thing the next President could do abut Middle East peace would be to punt -- to kick the can down the road and hope for "something" to happen to change the dynamic there. I agree that this isn't what you hope to hear from someone auditioning for the job as leader of the lone superpower. It's certainly not what anyone would call leadership. However, there's an argument to be made that this is really all a President can do right now -- indeed, it is basically what Pres. Obama chose to do over the last four years -- what some of the most knowledgeable 'experts' were advising. What makes it jarring is to hear the candidate voice that sentiment, which is certainly not what Pres. Obama has said in public, regardless of what might have been discussed behind closed doors.
For me, the most disturbing part of Romney's discussion of Mideast policy is what followed next:
On the other hand, I got a call from a former Secretary of State. I won't mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there's a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, "Really?" And, you know, his answer was, "Yes, I think there's some prospect." And I didn't delve into it.
Let's run that by the WTF machine....
A former Secretary of State calls the GOP's Presidential candidate and the former chief diplomat tells Romney that there is a prospect for peace after upcoming Palestinian elections. Romney shows great surprise by replying:
"Really?".
Romney is told:
"Yes, I think there's some prospect."
What would you expect the Republican Presidential nominee to do? There must be so many questions he could ask about how coming events might present an opportunity to resolve the most intractable conflict in the world, one which each of the last 5 Presidents have been laboring to resolve because the effects of this conflict on American interests are so profound. No doubt, Romney would want to know if this former Secretary of State could foresee a role for U.S. diplomacy and the next President in moving events in the right direction. Perhaps, it might even be important for a candidate to signal one or more of the parties in the mideast about future US policy. Certainly, resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute would be a heroic feat. It would be considered the greatest foreign policy success of the last 30 years.
No doubt, the serious candidate would be eager to pick the brain of this former Secretary of State -- to find out as much as he could about what this person had in mind about the prospects for peace i the Holy Land. Anyone who was auditioning for the role of Commander-in-Chief in charge of armies that have been fighting for over a decade in the Near East would want to know all he could about the issue. Heck, anyone with any intellectual curiosity at all would be chomping at the bit to ask the former Secretary for details.
As Romney himself tells the story, what was his reaction to this call - to hearing the former Secretary of State introduce this hopeful prospect?
"And I didn't delve into it."
As disturbing as the Romney video is from start to finish, this moment has to be the most disturbing.
We may thank our lucky stars that there doesn't seem much chance that there seems to be little chance Romney will ever be President.
On the other hand, is it possible that Mitt is a fifth column plant sabotaging the GOP from the top? It's hard to believe he's taking this campaign seriously, and taking seriously the possibility of being President.