Dropping the Mask

At the Wall Street Journal Bret Stephens is blunt. President Obama is “An Anti-Israel President:”

Say what you will about President Obama’s approach to Israel—or of his relationship with American Jews—he sure has mastered the concept of chutzpah.

On Thursday at the State Department, the president gave his big speech on the Middle East, in which he invoked the claims of friendship to tell Israelis “the truth,” which to his mind was that “the status quo is unsustainable, and Israel too must act boldly to advance a lasting peace.” On Friday in the Oval Office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his version of the truth, which was that the 1967 border proposed by Mr. Obama as a basis for negotiating the outlines of a Palestinian state was a nonstarter.

Administration reaction to this reciprocal act of friendly truth-telling? “That was Bibi over the top,” the New York Times quoted one senior U.S. official, using the prime minister’s nickname. “That’s not how you address the president of the United States.”

Maybe so. Then again, it isn’t often that this or any other U.S. president welcomes a foreign leader by sandbagging him with an adversarial policy speech a day before the visit. Remember when the Dalai Lama visited Mr. Obama last year? As a courtesy to Beijing, the president made sure to have the Tibetan spiritual leader exit by the door where the White House trash was piled up. And that was 11 months before Hu Jintao’s state visit to the U.S.

When this president wants to make a show of his exquisite diplomatic sensitivity—burgers with Medvedev, bows to Abdullah, New Year’s greetings to the mullahs—he knows how. And when he wants to show his contempt, he knows how, too.

So does his Vice President, as this video at Real Clear Politics highlights: “Biden Does Not Applaud After Netanyahu Says Jerusalem Will Not Be Divided.”

Meanwhile, at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey spots the president playing a variation on the “some of my best friends are..” trope.

Related: Hey at least Biden didn’t have skedaddle early from his appointment with Congress; unlike others in the president’s administration. At Tatler, “Video: Elizabeth Warren skips out of House hearing about her own agency:”

Obama has already circumvented Congress by making Warren an adviser at the Treasury Department, where she has been serving as the de facto head of CFPB. Republicans have threatened dire consequences if Obama goes through with the plan to recess appoint her.

Dire consequences? For this president? Get real. (Or at least start to, huh?)