Published: May 20, 2008 07:16 pm            

‘Feeling their pain won’t work

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

— Shakespeare

 

Only one word in the famous act three, scene two quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet needs changing to fit Barack Obama’s hissy fit last week. In place of “lady,” we need “presidential contender.”

Obama, made aware of what Pres. Bush said about the notion of talking with Iran’s leader to achieve better understanding, was clearly on the defensive. Bush was in Israel talking before that country’s ruling body, a group certain to be eager to hear the kind of tough talk he was offering up.

Bush, alluding to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s leader who has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, said some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals. Iran is thought to be a leading supporter of terrorism in Iraq and Israel.

Whether or not the remarks were directed at Obama is open for debate. The Bush administration insists they were not. Obama’s heated knee jerk reaction gives evidence that perhaps they should have been. Still, they need not have been because there are plenty of people other than presidential contenders who always seem convinced that talking with a sworn enemy is the be-all and the end-all of successful diplomacy.

It doesn’t matter how many times history proves the theory wrong, they still have the lingering hope that sitting down and looking eyeball to eyeball will do the trick.

Neville Chamberlain thought so about Adolf Hitler. His opinion didn’t change until the Blitzkrieg swarmed into Poland. Even as astute an observer of men as Joseph Stalin was fooled. Stalin, having met with Hitler, returned to Russia to tell his underlings they had nothing to fear.  When Hitler’s army attacked Saint Petersburg, Stalin went into a steep depression. Too late he realized no amount of talks or negotiation would appease the German leader.

Brigette Gabriel, author of “Because They Hate,” lived it in Lebanon when that democratic country opened itself to Palestinian refugees in the 1970s. Before long Palestinians were elected to public office. Later, they took control and that’s when the killing started. Gabriel says Palestinians they knew as friends suddenly became their enemies sworn to eliminate them.

As the civilized world struggled to cope with the aftermath of September 11, 2001 Twin Towers and Pentagon terrorism, a friend of mine said earnestly, “You know, we are going to have to start understanding those people!”  His tone and demeanor made it clear he meant he wanted our government and, for that matter, our citizenry, to sit down with terrorists and in a Clintonesque way “feel their pain” as a way of empathizing with them – as a way of “getting on the same page” with them, as the saying goes.

It will never work. Pres. Bush’s point is Chamberlain thought he could feel Hitler’s pain. Stalin was certain he was on the same page as the Fuehrer. No president of the United States can make the same mistake with Iran’s leader or any other terrorist.

Neither should the rest of us.

        

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