Cheney Tried to Sabotage Obama with Israel

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:45 pm

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In a piece in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh about the complexities facing the Obama administration on the issue of Syria, Hersh reports that now former vice president Dick Cheney tried to sabotage the relationship between then president elect Obama and Israel by saying that Obama was pro-Palestinian and that he would never support their efforts.

Hersh writes that, “Cheney began getting messages from the Israelis about pressure from Obama when he was President-elect. Cheney, who worked closely with the Israeli leadership in the lead-up to the Gaza war, portrayed Obama to the Israelis as a “pro-Palestinian,” who would not support their efforts (and, in private, disparaged Obama, referring to him at one point as someone who would “never make it in the major leagues”).”

Hersh’s reporting is excellent, as it details the potential complexities facing the new administration as they try to form an approach to Syria, while also dealing with Iran. Is anyone surprised at all that Cheney would try to poison the Irsrael/Obama relationship before it ever got started? Sadly, it also isn’t much of a surprise that Cheney thought that Obama wouldn’t make it in the major leagues of politics. You know, there is no way that Obama could possibly be as successful as the least popular administration ever.

Cheney’s insult of Obama makes me wonder what he considers being successful in the “major leagues?” Would it be an approval rating in the teens and twenties? How about carrying out policies that alienate the United States from the rest of the world, or perhaps it is completely destroying your political party to the point where it is directionless and virtually insignificant?

Cheney is in no position to talk about success in the big leagues. It was borderline criminal of him to use his last days in office to try to undermine the Obama relationship with Israel, but he is delusional if he thinks that he was a success in the big leagues.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association