This is certainly a first. Steve Clemons, writing at the Huffington Post, accuses Barack Obama of selling out to "The Lobby" by refusing to negotiate directly with Hamas:
Obama, in my view, has tarnished his foreign policy credentials here. If he can't embrace what these Americans have been able to do -- and what Senator Chuck Hagel has suggested be done with Hamas -- then what use is his new vision? What is his position today if not one that has been influenced by special interests whose political weight has undermined the strategic interests of the United States?
Clemons isn't entirely wrong. There is something deeply inconsistent about Obama's intention to meet with every enemy of this country except Hamas. Obama's advisers have explained that he will not meet with Hamas because the group does not recognize Israel's right to exist, but neither does Iran, and Iran is far more capable of threatening that existence. How does Clemons reconcile this with the nefarious influence on Obama of "special interests whose political weight has undermined the strategic interests of the United States?" He doesn't. But it'd be nice if Clemons would just say it outright instead of beating around the bush. Come on Steve, who are these people that undermine the country's strategic interests? Are we talking about the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters or the Jews?