Netanyahu on Bill Maher

This discussion between former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Bill Maher was pretty engaging. Aside from the kissy faces Maher and Netanyahu make to each other and each others' country, it's a really good interview.

The better part of the interview is towards the end where Netanyahu talks about the world opinion of Israel. Now as it happens, I thought Israel acted extremely or disproportionately in the recent war with Lebanon. I've made noises to that effect before, and I still believe it. However, Netanyahu stands there and makes a persusasive and intelligent defense of their actions. I don't buy it, but this was never a black and white issue, and what used to be a dark shade of gray is one step closer to neutral.

Now obviosly, it's important for Israel to curry favor with the US, but put that aside and consider this. Just watch how good at Netanhayu is at handling questions on the fly and answering them. He's fricking great at making his position look good! This is a skill some leaders have, it's called diplomacy. Now why on Earth can't we have a persusasive leader like that? Can you imagine George Bush going and doing interviews in Germany and England and Saudi Arabia, and answering honest questions (a different issue from answering questions honestly) about our rationales and behavior and rallying international support for our cause? With more allies, more troops, and more international pressures and concensus we might have had a different impact on Iraq. Diplomacy has gotten a bad rap lately as a cowardly alternative to the "hard work" of fighting, but Irsael demonstrates it's not an either-or situation. What if we'd fought and used diplomacy to fight too?

A popular neocon whine is that we aren't losing the Iraq war, we're losing the PR battle. I think Iraq was mostly screwed from the get-go, but I'll throw them this bone. If we'd had a diplomat of Natanyahu's caliber in office instead of a smirky, twitchy, bumbler, things would be different.