GOP Gets Smackdown From A Higher Authority

Mitt Romney and the Republicans are spending millions of dollars accusing Barack Obama of being an unfaithful and unreliable friend of Israel.  They are trying to make support for Israel a political wedge in this year's campaign in the hope of peeling away some Jewish votes in battleground states like Florida and Ohio but more so they are appealing to wealthy Jewish contributors.

They may be doing well in the money department as seen by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's pledge to spend $100 million to defeat Obama, but that campaign just got a major league smackdown from someone who knows a lot more about what this president is doing to help Israel than even Adelson: Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Barak told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Sunday that this White House is doing "more than anything I can remember in the past."  Relations between the two countries, he said, "are extremely good, extremely deep and profound."

He noted that historically administrations from both political parties have supported the Jewish state, "But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past."

Barak has been working more closely with the United States on matters of security, intelligence and diplomacy at all levels than any other Israeli, including the prime minister.

"In terms of the support for our security, the cooperation of our intelligence, the sharing of sorts in a very open way even when there are differences which are not simple sometimes, I've found their support for our defense very stable," he added.

For added measure, President Shimon Peres, who like Barak is a former prime minister and defense minister, praised Obama's support and particularly his Iran policies.

That doesn't sound like tossing Israel under the bus, as Romney has charged, but more like an ambitious but uninformed candidate pandering for votes and the approval of his billionaire benefactors.