You Still Gotta Play Nice

Politics is tough, I get that. When you’re president of the United States, you have to make tough decisions. But I think that good manners and civility should be indisputable, irremovable components of political strategy. President Obama’s recent actions regarding Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seem to suggest otherwise. Never before has a United States president snubbed a fellow world leader within the White House itself.

Admittedly, Israel came in unwilling to make concessions. President Obama met with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but the prime minister refused to make any written agreements of concession. After a while, President Obama excused himself but invited the prime minister to stay and “let [Obama] know if anything changed.” The Israeli delegation felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed that they eventually left for the Israeli embassy, not even feeling secure enough to use the White House telephone lines.

Sources report that Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to convince President Obama that he was not responsible for the timing of announcements of new settlement projects in east Jerusalem. Some suggest that Israel hoped the president would be too busy with domestic issues to pay much attention to the Middle East. In the end, not much got done, and the Israel delegation left in a huff.

Playing hardball is well and good, but actions like abandoning a world leader because they don’t want to negotiate seem petty. The United States has garnered a fair amount of international respect, but when our president embarrasses a diplomat who has come to negotiate, it does not reflect well on our country.

Obama aides report that bonds between Israel and the United States are still strong, and that the two allies can disagree without much damage. It looks as though the incivility didn’t hurt the process too much, but such tactics hardly seem like good political strategy. Nations are less willing to make concessions if you don’t treat them with respect.

SARAH WENTZ