Obama may be out, but 'Obamaism' is here to stay, Israel's Oren reportedly says
"This is an America that is prepared to sit on the sidelines while half-a-million people are murdered in Syria and while Europe is flooded with refugees," Channel 10 quotes Deputy Minister as saying.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 01:05Michael Oren and Barack Obama(photo credit: REUTERS,JPOST STAFF)
The isolationist policies of US President Barack Obama are likely to continue after he leaves office in January, Deputy Minister Michael Oren (Kulanu) reportedly said this week.According to Channel 10, Oren said in a talk to the Harvard Alumni Club in Israel on Tuesday that “Obama may be going home, but ‘Obamaism’ will remain a permanent part of American policy.”Oren reportedly referred to Obama as “more of a symptom than a cause.”“America today is not prepared to send a meaningful force to the Middle East,” the US-born Oren argued. “This is an America that is prepared to sit on the sidelines while half-a-million people are murdered in Syria and while Europe is flooded with refugees,” added the former Israel envoy to Washington.Channel 10 quoted Oren as saying that the tendencies of the American public which led to the election of Obama have continued to change the face of American society in recent years.“This is an America that is not prepared to intervene in Syria, this is an America that doesn’t want to be the world’s policeman, and prefers to focus on its own internal issues,” he reportedly added. “It suffers from many divides, and is paralyzed by political polarization.”He called on Israel to internalize this reality, which is not likely to change in the near future, and learn to be more independent. “This is a reality in which we are going to have to learn to stand on our own two feet.”Channel 10 quoted Oren as saying that he believes the US will continue to provide Israel with military aide, “but it will not rescue us from every entanglement.”Oren has been a frequent critic of Obama’s foreign policy.He made headlines last year when he wrote an op-ed titled, “How Obama Opened His Heart to the ‘Muslim World’” for Foreign Policy while publicizing his book, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide.
In the op-ed, Oren charged that Obama was naïve as a peacemaker, had blinders to terrorism, and that his abandonment by both his Muslim father and step-father had something to do with his desire to be accepted by their co-religionists.