When Hezbollah gunmen took over the Lebanese capital earlier this month, Obama released a statement that said, in part:
It's time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment.
That statement got him into a bit of trouble, seeming as it did to be a defense of Hezbollah's demands. When David Brooks further inquired with Obama about his views of the terrorist group, he spoke offered another troubling statement about Hezbollah's " legitimate claims" and the need to address the "root causes" of violence in Lebanon. Today Matthew Ygleisas, also of the "legitimate claims" school of thought, links approvingly to this column by Fareed Zakaria:
Hizbullah is not like Al Qaeda, a rootless organization that engages solely in existential terrorism. It's a homegrown group with deep roots in Lebanon's Shia community. The organization was formed to oppose Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and still derives some of its appeal from that history of resistance. It's since become the voice of the Shia community, which is institutionally discriminated against in the country's power structures. (Shiites make up between 30 and 40 percent of the Lebanese population, yet are accorded only 18 percent of parliamentary seats.) Finally, Hizbullah runs an impressive network of social services, which provide health care, small loans and family support.
Jeffrey Goldber, shortly before he scored his much-discussed interview with Obama on the candidate's views towards Israel, wrote a short post titled " Hezbollah and Its Apologists."
We've heard the arguments over and over again: Hezbollah is social service agency; Hezbollah wants to join the Lebanese political process; Hezbollah is not in fact dominated by murderous Jew-haters. And so on.
Goldberg did not ask Obama about Hezbollah when they spoke the following day, but I'd be curious to hear whether he thinks Obama falls into the category of Hezbollah apologist. Or whether he thinks Zakaria does given this latest column. In the picture above, taken in Montana this week, you'll notice Obama appears to be carrying a copy of Zakaria's latest book, A Post-American World. There seems to be a striking ideological affinity between the two on the issue of Hezbollah, and one wonders the extent to which Obama shares Zakaria's views on America as well.