I wouldn't say Bush was a deranged lunatic. There's all manner of shittiness you can ascribe to him, but I don't think it was due to actual mental instability.
F.J. Prefect, Esq wrote:When Bibi said 'I want to go to war' and Obama said 'man we're with you', that was the first time that I felt that Obama really failed as King of the World. Israel is flat-out the roguest rogue state to ever rakehell in the frilled pantaloons of respectable nations, and they're able to do it because USA-onii-chan is willing to stand up for them. I hope in private the US government is telling Israel that'll leave them out to dry if they do anything stupid ... but I dunno if I'm willing to bet that.
The idea of Iran with nuclear weapons is worrying, but you know it's just another player in that zero-sun mutually assured destruction bullshit, even if its supreme leader is a fruitcake.
I think it's possible that Obama publicly stating the equivalent of "Israel, sit down and shut the fuck up" could result in [Republican nominee] winning the Presidency. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree, this saber-rattling is out of control and the American insistence on Israeli infallibility is atrocious, I'm just saying that not backing Israel could* seriously damage Obama's re-election prospects.
(*and it might not, but there's no way the Democrats are going to take that chance)
And I think a Republican administration in 2013 would be much more likely to result in Iran actually being bombed. Especially if it's somehow Santorum, I mean I think it's very probably going to be Romney getting the nomination, but Santorum strikes me as a guy who literally thinks it would be righteous to bomb Iran
right now.
That said, I wouldn't disagree with the argument that Obama should disregard the vagaries of electioneering in favor of immediately deterring an Israeli first strike on Iran.