Peter Beinart Can Predict the Future. It’s the Present He Has Trouble With.

Peter Beinart has the wisdom to have some humility about who he would vote for if he lived in Israel. He tells us that actually living in the country he writes about with such supreme confidence might alter his view on things. Which, if we take him at his word, is a startling admission. It begs the question: what else he would do differently if he actually lived in the country he writes so passionately and monothematically about?

But Beinart still feels equipped to tell us about America’s relationship with Israel. And it is in the direst of jeopardies. Because the votes that brought Barak Obama to the White House is the wave of America’s future, the Millennials and the minorities. And Millennials will always, always, vote more dovish. This view, Peter tells us sagely, is not likely to change.

Peter, you are making an awfully gutsy prediction. As if you know that America will not experience another 9/11. As if the free-love hippies of the 60s didn’t morph into the greedy Gordon Geckos of the 80s.

But forget about predicting the future. How about predicting the present? Instead of looking at President Obama as a barometer of America, how about getting a more accurate reading of where the nations stands – let’s look at Congress. In the wake of Obama’s second election, America decided to vote in a majority of Republicans, who now control both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Maybe the tide is already beginning to turn away from liberal politics.

The reception of Netanyahu’s recent address of the Joint Session further tells us that Obama’s sun is setting. The president of the United States did everything in his power to shame Bibi into speaking to an empty hall. But the room was filled to capacity, among the occupants were prominent Democrats, and Bibi got numerous standing ovations. Looks like we are looking at a more conservative America.

Now, I don’t necessarily buy into that interpretation of events. But it is plausible.

Peter, I really gotta ask. What makes you so sure that Bibi is on the wrong side of America’s goodwill?