I fear with Hillary we will be led in the same direction on the Israel/Palestine issue. The advisers Hillary is surrounding herself with are the same ones who have crafted the last 16-20 years of failed middle east policies.

Bernbart!--kudos on a good comment, imo. Don't agree with it, but it's a good comment I think.

I don't see Clinton or her staff as horrible problem, so much as the totally one-sided stance of the US favoring Israel. So long as that is policy, then the US won't ever contribute to 'sustainable peace' in the ME.

yeah, I saw that. But I sense it was also aimed at some of his former colleagues in the Senate.

I think (hope) Obama actually means this generally, regardless of the problem (economic, foreign relations, etc), or where the 'helpful advice' comes from.

I have not read the blind Obama apologists Greenwald refers to, but this comment from their Hero seems to indicate that Obama himself wants to hear input from a wide range of sources. To his credit, he has explicitly stated a fear of becoming walled off and isolated in the WH.

I suggest you need to run and hide somewhere.

Like under a desk.

Preferably one that isn't close to a computer keyboard.

Yes, FDR said "Make me do it". Obama goes FDR one better:

"Just show me. If you can show me that something is going to work, I will welcome it. If it works better than something I have proposed, I will welcome it. What is not an option is for us to sit and engage in posturing or the standard partisan fights while the American people are out there struggling," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24907345-5013948,00.html

On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.

[…]

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.

[…]

Since the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza on January 3, 2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used.”

http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/01/13/mena-israel-and-the-use-of-white-phosphorous-in-gaza/

No need to pay attention to this, for two reasons. First, it's just Kucinich, and everyone knows Kucinich can be simply ignored with impunity. Second, it's just some obscure Law he's talking about. Laws like this simply aren't pragmatic. They're ideological. We need to get over them.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Kucinich, you mentioned Israel’s potential violation of the Arms Export and Control Act, which governs US arms exports to foreign countries. Can you explain?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: In 1976, Congress passed a law that says that if the United States is going to give arms to another country, that it can attach and does attach conditions that says that those arms are transmitted under the condition, first of all, that they’re used for defensive purposes only, and second, that they not be used to escalate a preexisting conflict. On both of those cases, I think that Israel has failed. And I’ve asked the President of the United States, through the Secretary of State, to make such a determination.

Now, the importance of it here is that Israel signed a $30 billion agreement with the United States in 2007, $25 billion of which has not been spent, for military assistance. And I think that if Israel is going to get aid from the United States, that the United States must be very certain that that military aid is not going to be used against a civilian population in a way that it’s occurring in Gaza. It’s a very dangerous moment. Not only F-16 jets, Apache helicopters, but now we’re seeing white phosphorus used against the people in Gaza. This should be a great concern to every person in this country, because of the amount of money that we’re giving to Israel, that the conditions upon which that aid was transmitted be enforced.

http://i4.democracynow.org/2009/1/12/kucinich_cites_arms_export_and_control

The Five No Votes:

Kucinich

Moore (WI)

Paul

Rahall

Waters

In spite of having collectively anticipated things of this sort many months ago, it is still profoundly depressing and disappointing when they actually come to pass. Surprisingly so.

Was Elvis sighted as well?

From the terrorist-loving Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154826952369919.html