When It Comes To Israel, What Are Democrats To Do With Obama?

"No one should set premature parameters about borders, about building or about anything else," Reid added, bringing the audience to its feet for the first time during the speech.
Reid Breaks With Obama On Israel, The Hill, May 23, 2011

Jennifer Rubin address that issue today, and it appears that Democrats will continue to play the "look at our unprecedented military support of Israel" card:

Democrats are loath to admit the president doesn’t know what he is doing, so they are left trying to convince themselves and others that this is a fuss about nothing. The most honest defense I heard from a pro-Israel Democratic staffer was to acknowledge that Obama had made mincemeat out of the “peace process” but to remind me that talks aren’t going anywhere anyway. In essence, “no harm, no foul” and look at all the hardware and military support we’ve given Israel!

But maybe not.

There are reports that some Democrats may be willing to publicly come out against Obama's Middle East policy:

Senate Democrats are expected to support a resolution intended as a rebuff to President Obama’s call for basing Middle East peace talks on the 1967 Israeli-Palestinian borders.

It would be a rare rebuke of the president by the upper chamber and a sign that Democrats are worried about the impact of last week’s speech on the U.S.-Israel relationship and pro-Israel constituents.

Democrats in both chambers are scrambling to fix the damage caused when Obama called for the 1967 borders and land swaps as a basis for peace. 

Some Democrats have tried to downplay the rift, but Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress say there’s no denying that Obama made a tactical mistake in handling the relationship.

“I wish that the president had not made the speech on Thursday, particularly not made it — I gather — without much consultation” with Israel, said Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), an Independent who caucuses with Democrats. “So I think it was a tactical mistake.”

It's one thing for Senate Majority Leader Reid to speak at AIPAC contrary to Obama's stated position, but to support an actual resolution--that indicates a real split.

A draft of the resolution is already in the works, and it will include language like this:

“it is contrary to the U.S. policy and national security to have the borders of Israel return to the boundaries of 1949 or 1967.”

So much for Obama's outreach to Muslims--instead, Obama has managed to alienate Muslims, Jews, and his own Party.

Hat tip: Challah Hu Akbar

Technorati Tag: Obama.