President Obama Is Called Up To The Plate As Chief Diplomat

President Obama was served a full plate regarding the recent Israel-Egypt clash. As chief diplomat, Obama stepped up to the plate and responded to the challenges that the United States was faced with in result to the recent Middle Eastern instability. One of the things that tested our Chief diplomat was the complicated matter of the upcoming vote for Palestinian statehood in the United Nations. The President responded to this matter with a threat to the UN of vetoing the proposed Palestinian statehood if the vote appeared in front of the United Nations Security Council. Obama being aware that this is the best move for America because if the statehood is granted thru a UN vote, relationships will be altered and thus our position in the Middle East will be altered and we could potentially loose power we currently hold. However, President Obama did make this threat in confidence that the vote would not make it to the United Nations, for if it did the reputation of our country around the world would go down the drain and all eyes would go to us as the ones who vetoed the Palestinian statehood. In addition to the stressful United Nations chaos, Turki al-Faisal stated that his country "would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has" if Palestinian statehood was vetoed by the United States. With the crucial diplomatic factors of our countries position, reputation and source of oil at stake, President Obama and his executives scramble to maintain peace and stability across the world.

Many of our class themes appear in this recent diplomatic uprising. If we narrow in on the presidency and executive aspect, the theme of Hardball politics is inevitable to ignore. The strategies that Chris Matthews states in Hardball are fully seen in action at full speed in the responses of President Obama to the Middle Eastern and United Nations crisis. President Obama's threat to veto the Palestinian statehood is a great example of how Obama has used hardball politics in the recent situation. The rules of the United Nations are set, and the president (who is the player of the game) manipulated the rules in a strategical way in order to succeed in the game. ‘Dance With the One that Brung Ya’ is another hardball aspect that applies to this article. The Middle East ‘brought’ the United States, so it is crucial that we stay loyal to them. The US executives notion of bringing Palestine to statehood is a strategy of our loyalty. However, a manipulation of the ‘rules’ are also being seen here; while the United States maintains loyalty to the Middle East by supporting statehood, we are still making sure America is in the best boat possible by avoiding the UN at all costs and preferring negotiation to reach statehood. Click here for more info on the relationship between the Middle East and the United States. Big time hardball politics is going to be required of Obama when dealing with the threat from Turki al-Faisal. The United States depends on the Middle East for a lot of major important resources. A large amount of America's oil and gas happen to be included in these resources, therefore it is very important for the United States to maintain allies and in cooperation with the Middle East. All of Americas cars, machines etc. run on gas or oil, with a cease of relations with the Middle East, our oil and gas quantity would be severely shifted and could potentially lead to a major American economic crisis.

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