Biden tries to keep his own team on-side with Mideast stance
CBC
In a significant prime-time address Thursday night, U.S. President Joe Biden was talking to different audiences.
One is generally hostile to him. The other, friendlier.
The main sales pitch of his speech was aimed at his adversaries, Republican rivals in Congress whom he's hoping to arm-twist into passing a new batch of Ukraine military funding.
He plans to achieve that by piggybacking Ukraine aid onto military aid for Israel, which Republicans are extraordinarily keen to pass.
It would all be lumped together in one big bill worth over $100 billion US, with the largest share going to Ukraine, and smaller amounts for Israeli defence systems, humanitarian aid for Palestinians, U.S.-Mexico border security and U.S. military allies in Asia.
Biden's basic argument is that these two distant nations share common bonds: both are democracies, both are U.S. allies and both face enemies determined to wipe them off the map.
It might take a few days to establish how receptive Congress is to his argument that our children and grandchildren will inherit a safer world if Ukraine and Israel prevail.
Congress, after all, is currently on self-imposed hiatus. The Speaker's chair has been vacant in the House of Representatives since Republicans deposed their leader then discovered they couldn't agree on a replacement.
On Friday morning, Republican leaders were trying, and once again failing, to elect a speaker as they received Biden's letter formally requesting this security legislation.
Another element of Biden's speech was aimed at an audience that, in the political sense, is closer to home.
Biden spent the latter part of his address speaking to a cohort of Americans particularly worried about Palestinian civilians: notably younger, more progressive, and Arab Americans — disproportionately Democrats.
Some are fuming at his strong pro-Israel stance.
There have been protests. There's been a resignation from his administration, a public letter from congressional staff, a tearful speech from a Palestinian-American lawmaker, and electoral warnings that Arab-American voters might not turn out for him next year.
"To my president. To our president: I'm not going to forget this," said Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Democrat and daughter of Palestinian immigrants, in a speech to protesters.
