BIDEN MUST ABANDON OBAMA’S FAILED POLICIES:

When a long-silent former president finally speaks out, the public listens. So do foreign leaders, especially when the former president is closely tied to the current one. That’s why Barack Obama’s comments on the war in Gaza attracted attention.

Anyone who remembers President Obama’s foreign policy knew what to expect: criticism of Israel and a delicate dance around Iran’s malign behavior. In fact, he did not mention Iran at all. He totally ignored their role. His audience expected him to add a few words of moral self-righteousness, warning Israel about future civilian casualties, as if Israeli Defense Forces hadn’t taken enormous and costly steps to avoid them. He should have praised the IDF and contrasted their behavior with that of Hamas, which deliberately hides behind civilians and then lies about innocent deaths. He didn’t. Obama’s speech recapitulates his administration’s policies. Unfortunately, those policies didn’t work.

The former president’s comments are important because his aides populate the Biden administration and have continued his policies in the Middle East. The failure of those policies hasn’t prompted any self-reflection or significant policy changes. It’s time they do.

It’s possible, of course, that Biden will eventually reconsider as the full horror of Hamas’s attack and Iran’s backing for it sinks in. So far, however, there’s been no change. To quote an old English comedy routine, “We have learned from our mistakes and can repeat them exactly.”

I doubt Biden in his current state will reconsider anything, particularly when his old boss is pulling the strings, “serving as a third-term president in all but name.”