> Anyway, I just got this from a repulsive PR shop calling itself The
> Israel Project ("Barbara Ledeen, senior advisor on Iran").
Which contains a link to a wire story on Clinton's testimony, including this passage:
> But she repeated the Bush administration's opposition to negotiations
> with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organization, unless it
> recognizes Israel, renounces violence and abides by past peace deals.
>
> "That is just for me an absolute," Clinton said.
"An absolute."
By picking Clinton as secretary of state, Obama literally sent a stronger signal that he doesn't intend to seriously pursue an Israeli-Palestinian settlement than if he had picked the head of AIPAC. That's because regardless of what her own personal views are, Clinton is a politician with future political ambitions, with a political base in New York and a record of cultivating pro-Israel hardliners as a base of support. She would literally sooner resign in protest than put any visible pressure on Israel, which would not only burn innumerable political bridges but - given the inherent thorniness of the Mideast - might not even pay off in any immediately tangible way. Obama knew all this when he picked her.
SA