At a time when congressional Republicans and Republican presidential candidates are passionately criticized Biden's Mideast policies, the evening news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC couldn't find any time for a GOP soundbite on Israel Tuesday night. But the CBS Evening News felt the need to offer the apparently unmissable opinions of former president Barack Obama.
Early in the show, anchor Norah O'Donnell summarized:
And tonight former president Obama putting out a lengthy statement affirming Israel's right to self-defense, but also warning "Any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire."
As if Obama never had a military strategy that could be accused of "ignoring human costs"? But you could never discuss a "backlash" against Obama. That would surely be racist. A few minutes later, CBS offered more detail:
O’DONNELL: And Nancy Cordes joins us from the White House. Nancy, we took note today that former president Barack Obama is weighing in publicly with a serious warning for Israel. What did he say, what do you think it means?
NANCY CORDES: Yes, And perhaps speaking more bluntly, Norah, then the current president could. Mr. Obama wrote that Israel's military strategy could backfire if it doesn’t do more to minimize civilian casualties. And he wrote to that the Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water, and electricity to a captive civilian population could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations and erode global support for Israel. He said this message needs to be delivered loud and clear to Israel by the U.S. Norah?
Curtis Houck found that Cordes brought the same hallowed Obama opinion to the Tuesday press briefing with John Kirby:
CBS's @NancyCordes: "Obama...said...Israelis haven't done enough to avoid killing or injuring civilians as they seek to take out Hamas...Does President Biden share that view?"
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 24, 2023
John Kirby has reiterated Biden has insisted to Netanyahu that Israel "respect...human life" pic.twitter.com/QJrw31vVQb
The team at CBS could not make any connection between Obama on October 23 contradicting Obama on October 9 bragging he would "stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas."
And they wouldn't allow anyone else to contradict Obama, either, and his terrible foreign policy record:
Oh, look, the guy who told the world that ISIS was a trivial "J.V. team," who did nothing when Syria crossed his "red line" and gassed children, who assured Putin he would be "flexible" and let him seize Crimea, and who lavished Iran with money has thoughts on the Middle East. https://t.co/ghnaVbm3pY
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) October 24, 2023
