Elections and their consequences

Capital J

By Ron Kampeas · June 10, 2009

In the New York Times, Tom Friedman does the right thing and reminds us that it's not just Barack Obama's hopes fulfilled in the blessed election win for pro-western parties in Lebanon. George W. Bush expended much political capital toward this outcome, and deserves at least as much credit..

And over at the Commentary Contentions blog, Shmuel Rosner notes that acquiescing to an American president's demands can be just as deadly for an Israeli prime minister as defying them:

What this means for Netanyahu today — days before he is slated to speak in response to Barack Obama’s Cairo speech — is that keeping the members on the right of his camp happy is no less important (politically) than keeping the U.S. happy. As the right has proved twice in the past, it does not hesitate when it comes to abandoning what it considers a “disappointing” prime minister.