On The Most Consequential Foreign Policy Test Yet, Democrats Flail And Flounder
Often their key advantage, when it comes to renewed violence in the Mideast, Democrats' "big tent" projects an unhelpful weakness
The air of ideological openness that the Democrats have been projecting over the past months has often served the party well by portraying them as responsible, adults eager to govern in earnest.
This has been a good look compared to a Republican Party consumed by frankly increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories, utmost fealty to a failed president and a cannibalistic orgy in which Republicans have been eating themselves politically.
However, that same acceptance of diverse voices has now turned against Democrats, as prominent voices across the party have begun to speak in a frustrating — and honestly counterproductive — muddle in response to the renewed flare-up of hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians.
The continued fighting has left hundreds dead on both sides, thousands wounded and nearly 60,000 Palestinians displaced.
President Biden started, unfortunately, with the reflexively staunchly pro-Israel statements that the world has come to expect from American presidents on the matter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades now.
Those statements, however, are becoming increasingly at variance with the reality of the dynamics between Israelis and Palestinians, which now more properly resemble an apartheid state.
A number of Democrats on Capitol Hill have used their perches in Congress to voice positions increasingly critical of Israel.
This includes, most recently, Sen Bernie Sanders, the progressive independent from Vermont, who condemned Israel's actions in remarks from the Senate floor.
The criticism isn't limited either to the left side of the Democratic caucus — nor is it limited to Israel.
Sen Tim Kaine, a centrist from Virginia, has said that he is “troubled” by the messaging coming from the White House on this vital issue, where the latest crisis has now entered its second week.
“I have spoken with the White House, at the beginning and the middle part of last week about this and I’m going to continue to do that. I know they are looking for a path to peace for calm, that’s what Secretary Blinken said,” Kaine said, referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “But again, I just think that U.S. is at the front edge of calling for a cease-fire. At Yemen we called for a cease-fire. In Afghanistan we called for a cease-fire. So that’s what we should do. And when the civilian casualty risk decline then we need to find space for the better path forward. So, again I hope that the administration may lean in [indecipherable] but whether they do or whether they don’t I’m on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees and I am going to say loudly that there ought to be a cease-fire.”
Kaine added that it is "puzzling as to why the U.S. isn’t leading in pro-cease-fire” negotiations.
Biden's obviously picked up on the vein of sympathy for the Palestinians and their situation, because just in the last couple of days, the president's modulated his own rhetoric to be more inclusive.
While visiting an automotive plant in Michigan Tuesday to promote more electric vehicles, Biden called out by name Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman from a Michigan district who still has family in Palestinian territory.
"I tell you what Rashida, I want to say to you that that I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, and I admire your concern for so many other people. And it's from my heart, I’m praying that your grandma and family are well, I promise I’m going to do everything to see that they are in the West Bank,” Biden said. “You’re a fighter and God thank you for being a fighter."
And, in response to a question from a reporter, White House Press secretary Jen Psaki left the door open that the Biden administration could support investigations into whether either side — Israeli or Palestinians — have been guilty of war crimes.
"It will be a decision for the international community to make together. I will say that our objective now is on bringing end to the current conflict," she said.
However, if that is indeed the objective as Psaki said, Biden and his team — and the wider Democratic Party — are going to have to get on the same page and sharpen their rhetoric with laser focus to bring that about.