Dennis Ross: “Why I support Barack Obama”

Aaron Keyak — October 10, 2008 – 11:00 am | Barack Obama | Election 2008 | Iran | Israel | Terrorism Comments (0) Add a comment

In this week's issue of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal Dennis Ross, wrote an op-ed titled, "Why I support Barack Obama." For those of you who don't remember all that Ross has done take a look at the bottom of the op-ed where the newspaper describes Ross as one who "served as President Bill Clinton's Middle East negotiator and President George H.W. Bush's head of policy planning in the State Department. He gives advice to the Barack Obama presidential campaign and recently accompanied Sen. Obama on his trip to the Middle East and Europe." The op-ed's makes it pretty evident what Ross writes about, but here is an excerpt.

Obama understands that weak sticks and weak carrots -- the current policy -- can't work. We need strong sticks to concentrate the Iranian mind on what they stand to lose, and we need strong carrots, conveyed directly, to show the Iranians they have something to gain by giving up their nuclear weapon pursuit. And, if in the end diplomacy fails, the fact that we engaged directly and Iran was unwilling to alter its behavior creates a very different context for tougher options.

Engaging without illusions might be one way to describe how diplomacy would be conducted in an Obama administration. Just like with Iran, he would engage on Arab-Israeli peace. Not because he knows it will produce peace, but because he again understands the consequences of disengagement. Who gained when the Bush administration walked away from peace making for more than six years and then in its last years pursued it incompetently? Hamas, because like all radical Islamists, they gain when there is hopelessness and frustration. Who lost? Those in the Arab and Palestinian world who favor a two-state solution but need the possibility of peace to make their case and to have the political space to build their authority.

It is my Middle Eastern hat and my attachment to Israel that ultimately inspires my support for Obama. I saw first hand his appreciation for Israel's predicament, its needs and his instinctive and emotional commitment to the relationship. But more than this, I know he understands that neither Israel nor America can afford four more years of Iran and the radical Islamists gaining strategic leverage in the Middle East. Slogans won't prevent that. A fixation on Iraq won't prevent that. But a leader who understands how to use all the elements of American power, revitalize that power and influence and get others to follow us in order to ensure we win the battle for hearts and minds will be able to do so.

In this election, it is clear to me that Obama is that leader.

For those that have questions about Senator Barack Obama's dedication to Israel there aren't many people who know the region and
U.S. - Israel relationship better than Dennis Ross. Please click here and after you read this op-ed send it to anyone who still has questions.

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