The Bigger Picture

Obama's struggle to sell health care is affecting his standing not only in the United States, but with other foreign leaders. Some of them are betting against Obama in a big way now as M.J. Rosenberg points out.

Today's Ha'aretz reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is giving Special Envoy George Mitchell his answer on the matter of Jerusalem's status and settlements.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to tell the special U.S. Mideast envoy on Monday that Israel will not accept any limitations on its sovereignty over Jerusalem, and will allow settlers to continue to live in the West Bank," the paper reports.

In other words, Netanyahu is flat-out rejecting the President's proposals and is also telling the Palestinians that they can forget about negotiations. He knows that if the book is closed on Jerusalem and settlements the Palestinians will understand that all they can do is negotiate the terms of their surrender.

I hear from Israel that Netanyahu's rebuff to Obama is a direct result of his perception of Obama's declining fortunes here. He sees what is happening with the health reform issue and Obama's fall in the polls and believes he can prevail over, what he hopes is. a President on the ropes permanently.

This is just one more reason for Obama to forget about Republicans and Blue Dogs and enact the strongest bill possible -- with a powerful public component -- by including health care reform it in the reconciliation bill and passing it with a simple majority.

It would be nice if Obama would realize that getting screwed over by the GOP is killing his foreign policy agenda in addition to his domestic agenda, and putting America at risk on at least some level. If Netanyahu feels he's in a stronger position right now, then nothing will happen in the peace process.