Tough to Be John Bolton

Former Bush apparatchik John Bolton is having a hard time finding a hero these days. Because the Obama administration refuses to play the tough guy, the U. S. is obviously too "soft" and "weak" for Bolton's taste.

That [Israeli] strategy would have been entirely sensible if Mr. Obama were simply another president in the long line since Franklin Roosevelt who vigorously asserted U.S. national interests, championed our friends (especially beleaguered ones), and kept alliances strong. But Mr. Obama is different. He is our first post-American president. He looks beyond American exceptionalism and believes that our role on the world stage should be merely one nation among many.

Normally, that would mean that Bolton would slide the Israelis into the hero's role. If Bolton had a meaningful choice, I'm sure he would choose Israel and the settler movement over the pansy Americans. But Obama not only refuses to allow the U. S. to play the enforcer, he's also making the Israelis do unmanly things as well. Where Bolton wants the Israelis to nuke Iran, Obama is making them "negotiate" with the Palestinians.

Israel has sought to accommodate Mr. Obama on two critical issues: negotiations with Palestinians and Iranian nuclear weapons. These efforts have largely kept
bilateral disagreements out of sight. But now the suppressed conflicts are fully
visible and will either be resolved or cause a serious collision between Israel
and the U.S.

Unfortunately for John Bolton, that means he'll have to get his kicks watching Inglorious Basterds.