Bibi and Hillary Go To Washington: a Report from the AIPAC Policy Conference in D.C.

I’m writing from the AIPAC Policy conference, the main yearly conference of the largest lobbying organization supporting the U.S./Israel alliance, where tomorrow evening’s speaker will be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and tomorrow morning’s speaker will be U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The other day I blogged about what I suspected was Hillary’s staged rage at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the announcement of the planned construction of 1600 housing units in East Jerusalem. Of course at AIPAC–as at any high-profile function at which politicians appear for the purpose of reassuring or influencing a key constituency, I would expect both leaders to be telling the crowd essentially what they think it wants to hear: that the U.S./Israel bond, based on shared democratic values, is rock-solid, etc. That said, I will be on the lookout for news. Sometimes, even these events–at which politicians have their guard up–can be unexpectedly revealing. At an AIPAC event during the 2008 campaign, for instance, a sharp reporter related that then-Senator Obama compared the dangers of terrorism to “cynicism” (which was interpreted by many to be a sign of our President’s (then Senator Obama’s) lack of seriousness with regard to fighting terrorism). And at an AIPAC event in 2007, I recorded Hillary Clinton speaking about Iran in what struck me as a meandering way that suggested she had no intention of, or plan to, confront the dictatorship (which has certainly borne out) — yet attempting to appeal to the audience as if she did. As I wrote at the time, I was stunned that so much of the audience failed to question the dangerous illogic in her statements.

Well, here we are two years later, and the white elephant in the room is still Iran. Now more than ever, it seems to me vital that anyone who claims to support Israel must be clear that he or she will, at the very least, support that state in the unfortunate event it is forced to take military action in self-defense. I will be reporting on what I hear.

On the health care front, looks like it is coming down to the finish line.  This is not my area, but my thoughts have not fundamentally changed since I blogged about it in September. Certain elements of health care reform, such as universal coverage for serious illness and insurance reform, needed to happen. But I seriously question whether this massive change and overhaul of our health care system–which is, after all, the greatest in the world in terms of life-saving medical research and emergency care–has been undertaken in the right way at the right time.

On a lighter note, the weather in D.C. is beautiful, and the smell of cherry blossoms is in the air. Last night I enjoyed the nicest cab ride of my life alongside a couple that had literally gotten engaged five minutes prior. Life goes on.

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