Obama talking here with Nancy Pelosi
The world, America, the press are all eyeing Obama on this one. He has chosen not to speak out about the situation developing in Gaza, and with good reason.
As the cameras followed him on major television networks on his first day in Washington, even though he has not yet been sworn in, it is as if everyone wants to push the calendar to January 19th.
Surely, this is one of the most explosive situations on the foreign policy plate, together with a smorgasboard of other plates with equally charged agenda. His most pressing, thankfully for the American people, is the economy. Barack Obama is keeping to his promise that his top priority when he gets into office will be the U.S. economy, which can be found at the bottom of a ravine at the moment.
But, never fear, as reporters are always standing by, and will sneak in questions whether they are appropriately timed or not. There was a large cabinet meeting this afternoon, with Obama and at least a dozen other people when a reporter blurted out the question burning everyone's lips: "what do you feel needs to be done about the situation in Gaza"?
After chanting the usual mantra, which we have gotten down pat by now, of "only one president at a time", Obama paused and added that there should not be two voices speaking about an issue at this time. Of course, Obama himself broke the rule when he commented on Mumbai, the economic downturn, the car makers bailout ,-and so, we wonder, why not Gaza?
Perhaps it is not as all pundits have been saying, - to wit that Obama's policy is not going to digress wildly from that of Bush on the issue. There is a tiny difference, and that is something we can perhaps hang on to. Obama believes in dialog, and knows that not talking to the enemy is not tantamount to punishment, but rather stupidity and shortsightedness. To date, no one in the Bush Administration has suggested engaging Hamas. Therefore, even if Obama were to say anything, he is technically not able to enforce whatever he propounds, because he's not the president.
What is really unfortunate is that our current president appears to be AWOL.
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