We've Been Here Before

- July 25, 2014

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We’ve Been Here Before
On August 14th, 2013 I wrote in this very newsletter a brief summary of President Obama’s foreign policy as it relates to then issues with Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood. Specifically, I asked, “What should the role of the United States be at this point, if at all? Many people are upset that taxpayer dollars are used to support foreign powers such as Egypt, especially if they don't agree with us, but do we (and Israel) have a long-term interest in making sure that stability is returned to Egypt?” As I then noted, “The problem is that Egypt represents Barack Obama's failed leadership. He supported the ousting of Mubarak yet sat silent as the Muslim Brotherhood came to power and essentially scrapped the Egyptian constitution. Now the administration refuses to label the recent revolution as a “coup,” and its efforts to restore stability by negotiating with the Muslim Brotherhood have failed.” I concluded, “Obama's inability to lead has been noticed by Egypt's most powerful man Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. I encourage you to read this recent interview he gave to the Washington Post where it is clear that Egypt feels Obama has alienated both sides of the mess he helped to create. Republican Senator Ted Cruz recently called Obama's Egypt policy a “stunning diplomatic failure.” I would have to agree.” Here we are now facing similar comparisons between Hamas and Israel and I’m still confused as to where the President stands on Israeli support. I feel like, for the last seven years, we’ve been asking about where the President stands.

"Working Through The Issues" by Mark Simone
I had the pleasure of filling in for Sean today and I really enjoyed our conversation on John Kerry's efforts to arrange a cease-fire in Israel. Israel rejected another cease-fire agreement today and I can't blame them, honestly. John Kerry said that, "He won't give up and that he's going to sit down with Israel so they can work through the issues." That might normally make sense but in this situation, what are the issues? Your neighbor starts lobbing missiles at you, what's there to negotiate? Do you know that those missiles cost $600,000? Your people are starving and you're spending $600,000 per missile, how can they support a regime like Hamas? Seriously though, we declared war on Japan the very next day when they bombed us at Pearl Harbor. England started carpet-bombing Germany when they were attacked. At this point it's clear that Israel needs to take all of Gaza, any other solution simply means a postponement of the solution.

>>TV Tonight (10pm ET on Fox News)
What would Rand do? The Kentucky senator lays out how he would handle the border, Russia, Gaza and beyond if he was president. Plus, does the punishment fit the crime for NFL star Ray Rice? And, Frank Luntz's bipartisan focus group tackles Obama's leadership