soccer dad, on Shmuel Rosner:

Well Bush sent Powell to Durban I under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus. But when the U.S. couldn’t get Durbanites to change the wording of their resolutions, Powell walked out. (And was mocked by the NYT for doing so.)

Now in 2001 there was pretext that Israel’s war against Fatah was so brutal it required international actions. In 2009, Israel is blockading Gaza but giving a lot more freedom to Fatah. Why doesn’t President Elect Obama or someone close to him stand up and say that the pretext for Durban II is lacking?

This is where I see Obama to be inferior to Bush. Bush, while imperfect, took a stand against the virulent antisemitism of the UN and its related organizations. He tried to change the terms of the debate. (Evelyn Gordon wrote an essay “The Frequent Abstainers Club” about this.) I can’t see that Pres. elect Obama will see fit to waste political capital on fighting such fights.