NO COMPETENT LEADER WOULD SEND JOE BIDEN TO DO AN IMPORTANT JOB:

Biden's Disastrous Israel Trip: Israel apologized for embarrassing Vice President Joe Biden by announcing it had approved 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem while the vice president was engaged in talks with Palestinian leaders—but now Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pulled out of peace talks. Reihan Salam on America's waning influence abroad. (Reihan Salam, 3/11/10, Daily Beast)

Rather than focus primarily on kickstarting a peace process Israelis consider badly broken, the vice president's visit was intended to reassure the Israeli public that the Obama administration takes the threat posed by Iran seriously, and emphasizing that the U.S. is absolutely committed to Israeli security.

The problems of an Administration that first has to reassure our allies that we're on their side and not the enemy's is obvious.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 11, 2010 7:31 AM