Obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

I've been hearing quite a lot from people who are 'anti-obama' nowadays. I'm obviously talking about those riled up with his deafening silence on what is going on in Gaza. It's the exact opposite to the rest of the world - it's hip to love Obama and his speeches that seem to have a lot less grammatical errors than his predecessor. This pessimism towards him basically started with some pretty zionist comments he made during his campaign speeches.
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided". This is some real radical stuff man. Even Bush didn't go that far. Even israeli leaders don't go that far. But Obama is addressing one of the most powerful jewish lobbies in America, and says this in a campaign speech. Palestinians don't foot campaign bills, the big boys like AIPAC do. And palestinians don't vote a US president, american jews do. So his "more Likud than thou" comments should be taken into context. Remember that being black and having a muslim dad AND having 'Hussein' as a middle name isn't really an advantage when you're running for president.

Fast forward to now, the white supremacist-islamophobe's worst nightmare has materialised (remember, even late into the election 10% of Americans still thought Obama was a muslim). So should we hope for a better middle-east policy starting today? I think the answer really lies in what actual power Obama has as president. My feeling is that at heart Obama is a good guy. Family associations affect you in some way or a rather, and I truly think the fact that his father was muslim and his attachment to the east makes him a sympathiser by nature. But could he change things if he wanted to? Could he say tomorrow, "I am with the Palestinian people"?

I don't think so. Think about this - what on earth does America gain from being an ally of Israel? Eight million dollars of American tax-payers money goes to Israel every day. Israel is the main cause for anti-American sentiment in the Middle-east. Israel is why 911 happened. And 911 gave an excuse for Bush to start wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And those wars cost taxpayers nearly as much as The Bailout (600 billion by pentagon estimates). So at all levels, Israel is the biggest liability America has ever had. Eliminating israeli protection and funding should have been a main issue in the elections. Instead, Obama must kiss Jewish arse in order to get his arse into the whitehouse.

If I had to be optimistic, I would believe that Obama played the game during the campaign and now that he's in the whitehouse, he could control the game. But the more likely scenario is, Obama can't do anything even if he wants to.