January 19, 2009

I suppose it was too much to hope for

By: AF Editors

After being ever so briefly pleased with the New York Times‘ oped page, it was almost inevitable that I would stumble upon the latest column from Roger Cohen, who as usual would miss the point if it were tattooed to his forehead.

After offering up a counterfactual (another one!) of an Arab-American dominated team of Middle East advisers to almost-President Obama, he sighingly resigns himself to the unfortunate reality:

In fact, the people likely to play significant roles on the Middle East in the Obama Administration read rather differently.

They include Dennis Ross (the veteran Clinton administration Mideast peace envoy who may now extend his brief to Iran); James Steinberg (as deputy secretary of state); Dan Kurtzer (the former U.S. ambassador to Israel); Dan Shapiro (a longtime aide to Obama); and Martin Indyk (another former ambassador to Israel who is close to the incoming secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.)

For some reason this reminds me of a friend’s remark that the photos on the wall of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff can be neatly divided between Semites and Antisemites.

Meanwhile, Cohen, on a roll now, continues:

They’re knowledgeable, broad-minded and determined. Still, on the diversity front they fall short. On the change-you-can-believe-in front, they also leave something to be desired.

Mind you, he’s not merely calling for greater area expertise or cultural facility among foreign policy hands; if I read him right, he actually wants the team to mirror the conflict. Just balance out the Jews with some Arabs and you’ve got yourself some real advisers! The mind positively boggles at the thought of this same principle being applied to other areas of our foreign policy, ad infinitum.

Why, it almost makes one wonder how we got along for nearly two centuries with a hapless bunch of WASPs. When I think of a man like George F. Kennan, the first thing that comes to mind is, “sharp fellow, just not ethnic enough.”

(Hat tip: Noah Millman)