BY LORRIE GOLDSTEIN <http://www.torontosun.com/author/lorrie-goldstein>, TORONTO SUN
FIRST POSTED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015 07:04 PM EDT | UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015 07:07 PM EDT One wonders if U.S. President Barack Obama will campaign as vigorously to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper this fall, as he did, unsuccessfully, to defeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in that country’s recent election. It’s no secret Obama despises Netanyahu, who heads Israel’s right-wing Likud party and favoured Mitt Romney over Obama in the 2012 presidential race. The U.S. president has also talked since the beginning of his administration about the need to “put some daylight” between the U.S. and Israel, so he would have more influence with Arab and Muslim countries in his pursuit of an Israel-Palestine peace deal. During the Israeli election, the Obama administration and the president’s political advisers did everything they could to defeat Netanyahu, including anonymously leaking information to the media to damage him, a tactic they have continued following Netanyahu’s victory. That’s to say nothing of the direct attacks Obama levelled at Netanyahu during the campaign -- Netanyahu did the same to him -- while Obama administration officials, both publicly and anonymously, warned America’s support of Israel would be undermined if Netanyahu won. On top of all that, some of Obama’s senior campaign strategists were on the ground in Israel, working with the opposition parties to defeat Netanyahu. (So were Republican operatives, working to re-elect Netanyahu. Ironically, in previous elections, some Obama strategists worked for the Israeli PM.) But what Obama and his people failed to take into account was Obama’s huge unpopularity in Israel. Polls during the election showed up to 75% of Israelis didn’t trust Obama’s negotiations with Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Almost 60% had an unfavourable opinion of Obama, compared to only 33% with a favourable one. Despite that, it apparently never occurred to Team Obama that this meant his attacks on Netanyahu would backfire, helping the Israeli PM instead of hurting him. Netanyahu campaigned on the theme he was the best candidate to protect Israel’s security compared to his more dovish opponents and used his invitation to address Congress by the Republicans to denounce Obama’s negotiations with Iran. While it would be an exaggeration to claim it was Obama’s campaign against Netanyahu that assured the latter’s victory -- voters choose political leaders for a variety of reasons, including their domestic economic policies -- it’s not a stretch to say Obama’s anti-Netanyahu campaign was a factor in Netanyahu’s win. When it comes to Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, like Netanyahu, is a political conservative, considerably to the right of Obama. Harper’s staunch support of Israel -- he has replaced Obama as Israel’s strongest defender and ally in the West -- can’t have made Obama happy. Another significant irritant in Canada-U.S. relations has been Obama’s refusal to approve the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s oilsands to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast, which has put Harper and Obama at loggerheads. Many Americans are perplexed by Obama’s opposition to the pipeline, with both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal noting recently that Obama’s major arguments against Keystone are simply untrue. Obama ally and billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said the U.S. should have already approved Keystone, both because it makes economic sense and in recognition of the close relationship between Canada and the U.S. As for what Obama might be thinking, our media have reported some of his campaign operatives are already working with the Liberals and NDP to help defeat Harper and the Conservatives in October’s election. (While the Harper Conservatives have used Republican strategists for Canadian elections, that’s obviously not the same as Obama strategists working to help defeat the prime minister of a foreign country.) The worrisome thing for Harper is that, unlike in Israel, Obama is popular with Canadians. An EKOS Research poll last year showed Obama with a 58% approval rating from Canadians, double that of Harper. My view of Obama, given his record, is that he overestimates his abilities as a global statesman -- a danger when you’re awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the start of your presidency, without having done anything to deserve it. (My favourite joke about that is that soon after winning the Nobel prize, Obama attended a U.S. college football game and was immediately awarded the Heisman Trophy.) But that’s not the view Obama holds of himself, even as a “lame duck” president who will soon leave that office for good. So perhaps he’ll have one last kick at the can by trying to defeat Harper this fall. __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdWx0ZDRqBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0Mjc0MDcyNjQ-> - New Members <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJndWx0YzBpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNDI3NDA3MjY0> 1 [image: Yahoo! 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