Somewhere Dubya Is Loved At Last

Yes, we all know that George W. Milhous Bush is currently in the Middle East playing president and pretending to care about negotiating peace between Israel and Palestine (even predicting a peace treaty by the time he is FINALLY out of office), but I’d just like to take a moment and contrast this frantic, last-minute scramble by a highly unpopular head of state with the more methodical approach of a president who actually knew what he was doing on this vital issue (aided in a huge way by Anwar Al Sadat of Egypt, who ultimately died because of his recognition of Israel).

As this Wikipedia article about the Camp David Accords tells us…

(Former President Jimmy) Carter also wasted no time in visiting the heads-of-state on whom he would have to rely to make any peace agreement feasible. By the end of his first year in office, he had already met with (Sadat), King Hussein of Jordan, Hafez al-Assad of Syria, and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. Carter's and (Secretary of State Cyrus) Vance's exploratory meetings gave him a basic plan for reinvigorating the peace process based on the Geneva Conference and Israeli withdrawal on all fronts, including the West Bank.

Of course, concerning Camp David, the call for West Bank withdrawal came in 1977-1978, and 30 years later, it is still being negotiated with the Israelis (noted here).

Also, I just want to note the following paragraph of the New York Times’ coverage on this story...

Mr. Bush’s visit was only the second by an American president to the Palestinian territories. Bill Clinton visited Gaza and the West Bank in 1998 during a previous push for peace that was overshadowed by his impending impeachment concerning his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

God, was it really necessary to point that out (seeing as how it has so much to do with that area of the world - not)? Again??!!

And not that I’m actually taking President Nutball’s antics seriously, but Atrios noted here that Dubya’s record on foreign policy predictions in particular leaves a bit to be desired.

The post title, by the way, refers to the reception Dubya received in Tel Aviv when he arrived. I heard about it on NPR (can’t find a link at the moment), and it doesn’t surprise me in the least; Israel should love him seeing as how this president launched his proxy war in Iraq on their behalf.

Update: Oh, and I'm...umm...honored (yeah, that's it, honored) to be on the same wave length here as The Onion (h/t kos - actually I really am; some very indelicate but true commentary here).