I'm pretty sure President Biden knows what he's doing. Friedman's proposal lacks an important element, namely pie.

Actually, one could argue that what Friedman and Barak are talking about supplies just enough pie for all!

If Bibi continues with his plan for an all-out invasion into Gaza without any vision for the future, whatsoever, then all bets may be permanently off and there will be no pie for anyone involved in this, forevermore. And, 'no pie' forever would be the LEAST bad outcome!

"...if Israel feels it must reoccupy Gaza to destroy Hamas and restore its deterrence and security — I repeat — it must pair that military operation with a new commitment to pursue a two-state solution with those Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza ready to make peace with Israel."

Here's a small excerpt from the transcript where he talks about Biden's proposed and unprecedented aid package for Israel and what it would take for him to support it:

"I can tell you the column I will be writing next, which is that President Biden said in Israel that he’s going to offer an unprecedented financial aid package to Israel. And I’ll support that package under one condition: that Israel agrees that it will not build a single more settlement anywhere beyond the settlement blocks. Not one brick, not one nail, not one ounce of cement.

"Because I will be damned if my tax dollars are going to be used to relieve Bibi Netanyahu’s political problems, that he needs the settlers for his coalition, and so he’s going to take this money and use it for that. Of course, he’ll say this is all aid. Money’s all fungible. If Netanyahu wants to fight a war with Hamas and build settlements, then he needs to pass a 50 percent tax hike at home."

That is certainly true when it comes to domestic policy.

And, on the US foreign policy side, I MAY have a new favourite Biden quote. From his oval office address the other night,

"American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with."

For most of my adult life I believed all of that to be true with a great passion.

Now that Biden is (finally!) the American president, he has A LOT of work to do in order to make that quote come to life.

And, then, he probably still wouldn't get much credit for it from a majority of the American electorate. Of course, receiving credit has never been a driving force in Biden's lifetime career in public service.

It's one of the ironies of our ridiculous culture of celebrity that Biden has done so much, so well, and gotten so little credit. I guess he's one of the guys who has had greatness thrust upon him, so to speak.

A steady hand on the American tiller in times of conflict is a valuable thing to have in a president (especially when you consider the alternative -- how Trump would have handled either one of these crises).

Yeah, well, neither crisis would have happened if Trump was the president. That's a little joke. But, I'm only half-joking because it would just be Trump's dumb luck to make it so.

The anti-slick-salesman Biden has been more transformative than Ike and pushing (but not exceeding) FDR.

If that were true, then Biden would have better poll numbers and he wouldn't be losing to Trump in the battleground state polls.

He fixed our economy, handled Russian aggression, unified fractured NATO admirably…and when you post things like “voters seem to believe the Repugs” I direct your attention to 81m Biden voters in 2020 and the pink splash of 2022.

2020/22 seems like an eternity ago. So much has changed, in other words, in just a few short years.

Biden has most decidedly NOT handled Russian aggression nor has he managed to bring the Russian economy to its knees. Of course, you should know by now that I believe the Dems are, by far, the better stewards of the American economy ... well, as compared with the Republican cult of economic failure, you know. :)

This despite the incredible political pressure and death threats she and her family have been subjected to.

But, let's face it. He really believes he was abducted by aliens. CW, you shouldn't be picking on him more than absolutely necessary. That's just rude.

Please stop bagging on my hero Joe Biden. The anti-slick-salesman Biden has been more transformative than Ike and pushing (but not exceeding) FDR.

He fixed our economy, handled Russian aggression, unified fractured NATO admirably…and when you post things like “voters seem to believe the Repugs” I direct your attention to 81m Biden voters in 2020 and the pink splash of 2022.

Please stop it with the hand wringing and self soiling. It’s unbecoming, Ms. Vancouver.

Unless those hardworking clowns are MAGAts. In which case it’s a little more complicated…

…just like abortion. Be careful what you wish for.