The Road to Hell, Obama is the New Carter

I read Ruthie Blum's To Hell in a Handbasket over the weekend.  She's such a great writer that she made this very serious must-read modern history book read as quickly as a Michael Connelly adventure.  I just wish it was fiction, because it isn't a very pleasant story.

Ruthie doesn't waste words, or she'd have to include and frequently repeat King Solomon's refrain from Kohelet, Ecclesiastes:

וְאֵין כָּל-חָדָשׁ, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ
...v'ain col chadash, tachat hashemesh
and there is nothing new under the sun

Those are the words that kept on echoing in my mind as I read her book.

So Too much of Barack Hussein Obama's presidency and political ideology echoes Jimmy Carter, one of the very worst presidents in the history of the United States of America.

Dry Bones

Very few American Presidents have felt a true affinity to the State of Israel.  Jimmy Carter's hatred and antipathy have become more and more prominent over the years, especially as he rewrites history in his memoirs, crediting himself and maligning Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Blum's book isn't about Carter/Obama and Israel.  To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the "Arab Spring" is about Jimmy Carter's disastrous presidency and his policy concerning Iran and the frightening similarities with Barack Hussein Obama.

Too many people like to forget that Obama's American diplomats who had been stationed in Iran during Khomeini’s takeover were held captive for over a year.  Not to blame the victim, but she proves that the victims' employer, the United States Government, led by Jimmy Carter, was guilty of total and utter incompetence.  State Department employees, including the marines as security guards must take orders from their bosses in far-away Washington DC.  While Israeli diplomats, who had also been under serious threat, managed to safely flee Iran, the Americans consistently misread the situation and just kept on getting into hotter and hotter water, "Hell" for sure.

Blum chronicles how Carter was more concerned about his reelection campaign than the American State Department's 52 staff members whose lives were in constant danger as they were held hostage by Ayatollah Khomeini's terrorist government in Iran for 444 days.

Just like Barack Hussein Obama recently cheered on the rioters in Arab countries as if they were a refreshing spring flower of democracy, Carter accepted Khomeini as the people's will against America's loyal ally the Shah of Iran. 

Blum warns Israel about American disloyalty to its allies:

As Bernard Lewis explained to Pahlavi, the dying Shah of Iran about United States of America:

"Well, our media's posture--like our foreign policy-- is to shun any government that wants our friendship, and to placate and pursue our enemies."

That is a message we Israelis and American Jewry must internalize, like a frequently repeated mantra. In terms of classic Jewish learning, it's the simple pshat, and Ruthie Blum's book is the drash, the detailed and very deep, factual explanation.

Blum's book should be required for all diplomats, politicians, journalists, historians and academics, whether professionals or blogger pundits.  Blum should also be invited as speaker to all sorts of groups and events for groups..