From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.
The Obama administration will announce that Ross has been reassigned to another position in the White House. In his new post, the former Mideast peace envoy under President Bill Clinton will deal primarily with regional issues related to the peace process.
One of the persistent failures of George W. Bush, was his inability to have good people assigned to important posts. But even more catastrophic for us and the planet, was his insistence on keeping bad people when they kept on getting worse in their job performance. His reluctance to fire for the right reasons will become legendary in the American political tapestry.
Haaretz vaguely speculates why Ross is being moved. It fails to ask the obvious, "Why now?" (The article is dated Monday, so it is very fresh.)
Because we saw so few terminations of people in posts like Ross' during the Bush years, it is hard to do a compare-and-contrast theme yet. But it will be interesting to see how the president reacts to the Iranian election fiasco in his recommendation for Ross' replacement.
18 comments:
Yet another attempt by Obama to appease the Mullahs. Ross has a Jewish background and is a strong supporter of Israel. The virulent anti-semites ruling Tehran don't like that, so the obliging Obama (always ready to throw the Jews and Israel under the bus)decides to remove Ross during the current unrest. Meanwhile Obama's silence on the repression in Iran just goes on and on and on and....
"One of the persistent failures of George W. Bush, was his inability to have good people assigned to important posts."
Remind us again about the Obama donors who have got ambassador jobs ....remind us of how many positions are still empty in the Treasury department....remind us how many Obama appointments have resigned for "family" (tax) reasons....remind us how a 30 year old student with no business experience is overseeing the GM fiasco ???
Anon@9:55, pls. explain how the Bush family ties to Saudi Arabia helped Israel. Thanks.
Also, Anon@9:55, please explain how the war in Iraq begun, by Bush-Cheney, has helped Israel. Thanks.
So Obama decides to play diplomat reshuffle while Iran burns. Looks like the One got his 3 a.m. call this weekend and voted "present". Isn't it funny how the One who can never stop talking is strangely silent over Iran ?
"Anon@9:55, pls. explain how the Bush family ties to Saudi Arabia helped Israel. Thanks."
I'm sure you can do that. And once you've explained that then maybe you could tell us what that has to do with Ross ?
Even the Europeans are noticing Obama's silence over Iran..This is from the UK Daily Telegraph....
"Obama's deafening silence over the Iranian election is a disgrace. According to The New York Times, the president "did not even convene any high-level White House meetings or conference calls on Sunday". That's not the mark of a leader but a clear display of weakness. It's a sad day when the greatest power in the world withholds criticism of a brutal, tyrannical and illegitimate regime for fear of upsetting its rulers."
These attacks on Obama's quiet moves by the MSM outlets is entirely predictable. Here's Phil Weiss' take on Ross' move from his current job to whatever his new one will entail:
"Three weeks ago we picked up the grumbling about Dennis Ross's new book; it contradicts Obama policy on the
centrality of the Israel/Palestine issue to regional solution in the Middle East.
"My theory about Ross is that he is the living embodiment of the Israel lobby. He has goldplated standing with conservative Jewish organizations (and is a friend of Tom Friedman's) and therefore cannot be sidelined without major political fallout for Obama.
"Meantime, Obama wants him away from the kitchen. So he keeps him around, in ever-more marginalized positions, so Ross won't start complaining publicly too much and create problems on Obama's right flank."
"These attacks on Obama's quiet moves by the MSM outlets is entirely predictable."
If Bush did this it would be "sly", "shadowy" or "underhand" yet good old Obama makes "quiet moves". Mustn't have a Jew in Iran because the Mullahs don't like it and Obama is more concerned with appeasing the Mullahs then with anything else.
It's a shame for Obama that the bloodshed in Iran is revealing to the world the true evil of that regime.
I believe the president is taking the correct stand on the issue in Iran. Why? Because since the position of POTUS carries so much influence worldwide, one SHOULD do the research before making such an important decision. It is easy to "speak from the gut" about interfering in the political business of other nations, and whether some of us will admit it or not, we have witnessed the effects of decision-making using "gut reactions" and "cowboy diplomacy:" two wars, the deaths of millions of people worldwide, a wrecked national and international economy, the deaths of over 4,000 of our servicemen/women, torture, indefinite detention which, in some cases, cannot be undone, over 30,000 injured service men and women, the distribution of wealth to a very small segment of the population, massive foreclosures, an unemployment rate over 10%, 48 million people without healthcare, most of them children, etc. Huffington Post has an article that states that one of the major Iranian-American organizations in the U.S. believes the U.S. has absolutely no business getting involved in Iran's election. For us to do so would be akin to having one of our neighbors whom we don't like telling us how to run our household, and I'm sure none of us would be amenable to taking advice from that neighbor and might even resort to violence if we even begin to think our neighbor would act on his/her decision. What would be embarrassing and potentially harmful is if we would get involved in Iranian politics and it caused a backlash from Hamas, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the other characters who are just waiting for an opportunity to carry out another attack on us. If you're praying for the latter, may God look out for us all because, in our present situation, we do not need another war. Lots of Americans do not know that Iran's Supreme Leader, Khomeini, has already been in contact with the WH and stated that Iran is still willing to talk to us. They do not know this because they speak before they do all of the necessary research. I'm glad our president has chosen to study the situation as much as possible BEFORE opening his mouth. I've had enough of that kind of behavior to last me a lifetime.
Anon @ 11:37 a.m:
Ross' being a Jew is not the issue here. Tens of thousands of Jews live in Tehran, and are probably among those protesting the stolen election.
The educational level and career prospects of female Jews in Tehran in their mid-20s is far, far higher than the educational level or prospects of Ethiopian Jews of either sex in Tel Aviv.
Ross' book, just published is in direct confrontation with the stated policy of his boss, the President.
There are many loyal Jewish Americans working at the highest levels of the Obama administration, including the President's chief-of-staff.
The educational level and career prospects of female Jews in Tehran in their mid-20s is far, far higher than the educational level or prospects of Ethiopian Jews of either sex in Tel Aviv."
What has that got to with anything...except just another chance to slander Israel (something
Leftists do without even thinking).
"loyal Jewish Americans"
What does that mean...that you think there are plenty of disloyal American Jews ?
"the deaths of millions of people worldwide,"
Hey, why stop at "millions" ..why not go for "billions" ...if you're going to lie then lie BIG.
"one SHOULD do the research before making such an important decision"
Ha, ha! Millions on the streets of Tehran calling the elections a farce and poor old Obama has to do more "research". Maybe if the lib media had stopped sugar-coating the evils of the Iranian regime, Obama might have more of an idea of who he was dealing with. Maybe if he'd taken notice of what Iran's proxies were doing in Gaza and Lebanon, or if he'd watched the execution of gays in Iran or the stoning of women or the murder of students....but maybe that's too much hard work for the Messiah ?It's also a shame that the One didn't do the research into the failed "porkulous" plan before he rushed it into law. But I guess that destroying the US economy wasn't really "an important decision" ...
1) If the Israeli government would be more cooperative with UNESCO on educational/economic statistics of segments their population, it would be easier to write a definitive article on the subject I mentioned in my directly previous comment. The Iranian government hasn't exactly been cooperative, either. OTOH, prove me wrong. My information comes from publicly available sources.
2) Any Jewish American who puts Israel before US interests is a disloyal American. Any Iranian-American or Greek-American or Chinese-American who puts the interests of any of those countries over those of the USA, is a disloyal American.
Should be a no-brainer.
"Any Jewish American who puts Israel before US interests is a disloyal American. Any Iranian-American or Greek-American or Chinese-American who puts the interests of any of those countries over those of the USA, is a disloyal American."
Interesting...do you always preface someone's ethnic origins with "loyal" when mentioning them or is it only Jews ? Would you have put "Obama has several LOYAL muslims on his team"? or "Obama has several LOYAL Chinese-Americans on his team ?
"OTOH, prove me wrong. My information comes from publicly available sources."
You're missing he point..it's not about proving you wrong but why you felt you needed to add that piece of unrelated information to your comment. It had no bearing on the subject matter but seemed to be thrown in merely as a sop to the anti-Israel crowd. Am I wrong ?
Anon @ 1:41,
No, I don't relate this issue more to American Jews than to Americans from any other cultural, religious, national or other heritage, prior citizenship or current dual citizenship.
"t had no bearing on the subject matter but seemed to be thrown in merely as a sop to the anti-Israel crowd. Am I wrong ?"
You are. I'm going fishing...
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