Los Angeles Times:
Ronald Brownstein
Washington Outlook
Kerry Skips Nuance on Mideast Policy When It's Needed Most
Terse isn't the first word usually applied to Sen. John F. Kerry's disquisitions on foreign policy. At a town meeting just before January's New Hampshire primary, Kerry wandered through nearly five minutes of agonized ambivalence when a fellow Vietnam veteran asked him why he supported the war in Iraq....
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But Kerry was a model of unambiguous concision the other day when he was asked about Bush's meeting this month with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon....Bush's meeting with Sharon seemed precisely the sort of unilateral, headstrong gesture that Kerry has in mind when he accuses Bush of pursuing the most arrogant and ideological foreign policy in U.S. history.
So jaws dropped across Washington when Kerry responded with just one word after host Tim Russert asked him on "Meet the Press" whether he supported Bush's promises to Sharon.
"Yes," Kerry said....
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The reassuring lesson (re. Kerry's "thinking") is that Kerry isn't captive to international opinion. Kerry constantly accuses Bush of isolating America by ignoring the views of others. But Kerry's response to the Bush-Sharon initiative signaled that he doesn't value world opinion so much that he won't confront it when he considers it misplaced....
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The troubling aspect of Kerry's response was that he failed to recognize — or at least acknowledge — (the "critical point" of direct talks with Palestinians). Perhaps Kerry feared a backlash from Jewish donors and voters if he complained about freezing out the Palestinians. Perhaps he saw no advantage in opening any daylight with the president over Israel....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-outlook26apr26,1,215349.column?coll=la-home-nation