Friday, June 20, 2008

A Big Obama Test: If Israel Attacks Iran

I have been a relatively enthusiastic backer of Barack Obama. There was news this morning that Israel carried out a military exercise that was a practice for bombing Iran. I was extremely disappointed to see Obama pander to AIPAC in a recent speech where he gratuitously promised that Jerusalem would remain the Israeli capital and must remain undivided. If Israel were to bomb Iran this would be a huge test for Obama's strength of character: if he were to support such an illegal, aggressive and unjustified attack he would go down in my estimation very considerably. This would constitute a "Profile in Pandering" rather than a profile in courage. Moreover, this would put Obama in the war camp very close to George W. Bush and would be an indicator that he is not so much the "change" candidate he would like us to believe he is.