Friday, May 30, 2008

We Criticize Because We Care

It's pretty weird that Barack Obama fired advisor Robert Malley for holding talks with Hamas, given that the meetings came as part of his job with International Crisis Group. Obama wants to emphasize that he draws a clear line between unfriendly states like Iran and stateless terrorist groups, but he's speaking as a potential president.  Malley was working for an NGO, not as a politician. If groups like his can't meet with Hamas or other similar groups, than they don't have much value. 

And at the same time, Obama has Bill Richardson, who as a public official has serially met with America's worst enemies, singing his praises around the globe (presently, in Mexico). I'm not saying that Obama should ditch Richardson, but Malley meeting with Hamas is certainly more defensible than the governor of New Mexico sitting down with the North Korea. 

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