-
Not a Dark Age, Just 50 Shades of Gray
March 16, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Whose Rule of Law?
October 31, 2012 | 15 comments
-
Will the LIBOR Scandal Help Re-Elect Obama?
July 30, 2012 | 17 comments
-
When Baseball Was More Than a Game
April 17, 2012 | 24 comments
-
Risk Responsibly
September 23, 2011 | 18 comments
Feature
A Long Shot: One-Term Obama
Americans love to create president-heroes — only to turn on them once they acquire too much power.
I MISS THE LATE HENRY SIMMONS, the legendary Newsweek reporter who covered the early NASA space flights and the Washington economics beat back in the days when that magazine produced important information and not pop-twitter. Henry kept the betting book at the Members Bar of the National Press Club in Washington. It was a battered pocket diary, held together by rubber bands, that served for 20 years as a log of the press corps’ after-hours wagers on the outcome of the stories they covered: of what bills would pass, who was about to be nominated (or indicted), who was sleeping with whom. Whatever the bet, Henry was a master at calculating the odds.
I would love Henry’s odds on this bet: Barack Obama is a one-term president.
There is a push-bet that goes along with this as a hedge. Mr. Obama’s winning a second term will depend on a U.S. involvement in a war-say, an expanded one in Afghanistan, or perhaps a new conflict in Iran.
Long-shot bets? Sure. Even in this discontented summer of slipping poll numbers, the public image of our president is that he cannot put a foot wrong. We are uplifted by the world’s embrace of this attractive young man and his photo-perfect family. Wherever he goes in the world, from a town hall appearance in the Rust Belt to a high-profile summit with foreign leaders, his message strikes just the right tone.
What would have intrigued Henry about the bet, as it does me, is one of the iron rules of American politics: your Americano loves to get himself into a jam of some sort and then to create hero-presidents, often out of thin air. He gathers enormous powers into his hands with the promise that all problems will be solved. But after that first euphoria comes inevitable disenchantment. And then, with a surprising vengeance, repudiation. We love to idolize our invented heroes, but almost as quickly we find fault and turn against the vast powers they have accumulated. Like the “Gadarene swine,” as Henry loved to call the American voting mass, we rush madly to wreck the restraints imposed on us and revenge ourselves on imagined enemies. Then after a period of dull sobriety a new crisis arises and we start the round again with a new hero. It’s as American as apple pie.
TAKE MR. OBAMA’S ROLE MODEL, Abraham Lincoln. The 49 months of the Lincoln presidency are a textbook case of how in a crisis a chief executive can seize an astonishing amount of extra-constitutional power with popular acquiescence, how he can use that power ruthlessly and without check, and how just as remorselessly that power can be snatched away and his accomplishments reversed when the crisis is popularly believed to have past. This is true even when the crisis continues in only a slightly less ominous fashion.
James M. McPherson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian, writes in his latest book, Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief, that Lincoln invented the very phrase-“war powers”- that established the president as the first among equals within the U.S. government. When Lincoln took office those powers were vague bordering on nonexistent. The original draft of the Constitution’s Article II, Section 2 said merely, “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” Subsequent refinements provided by the Supreme Court during protests over the Mexican War added only that his command was to employ those forces “in the manner he may deem most effectual to harass and conquer and subdue the enemy.”
While Congress dithered and the Supreme Court fumed, Lincoln unilaterally ordered a naval blockade of Southern ports (even of states that had not yet seceded) and the seizure of shipping. Then, in defiance of a Supreme Court finding, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus and began arresting state legislators and even a federal judge believed sympathetic to secession.
Once Lincoln’s famous Cabinet of Rivals was in place they outdid themselves in expanding his power.The postmaster general blocked the circulation of newspapers that opposed the conduct of the war. U.S. marshals began to arrest dissenters, draft resisters, and war protesters, with the accused tried before military commissions and courts martial. It has been documented that Secretary of State William Seward ordered military arrests of more than 800 civilians while Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had soldiers arrest more than 13,000 private citizens during the war.
WHILE LINCOLN’S VIOLATIONS of civil liberties have been rehashed often, less appreciated was his transformation of the still fragmented U.S. economy onto a coordinated national war footing. The Great Emancipator became the Great Nationalizer. Without reference to congressional authority or appropriations, he not only increased the size of the army and navy but also advanced 2 million dollars from the Treasury to three private New York financiers so they could hurry orders for arms and vessels for the war. Of longer- term impact was the issuance of a whopping $440 million in “greenbacks,” fiat money not tied to the legal requirement that it be redeemable in gold on demand. Of equal importance, Lincoln effectively seized the North’s railroads and turned them into a strategic weapon of warfare, adding hundreds of miles of new track and bridges and millions of dollars’ worth of new locomotives and rolling stock even as he rammed through Congress the charters for the construction of the first transcontinental railroad system.
But then look what happened. Set aside for a moment the myth that had Lincoln lived he would have adroitly healed the facture between North and South, been more lenient with the defeated South, and ensured a smoother and more secure transformation of the former slave population into full citizenship and economic equality. His tragic murder has obscured the fact that the dramatic military victories that swept him back into office in the 1864 elections also brought in a Congress determined to exact revenge on the former Confederacy and to reward themselves and their backers among the Northern industrialists and financiers who been dragooned into the Union’s cause by the diktats of Lincoln and his imperious cabinet.
One can only speculate on what a dismal second term Lincoln would have had if he had lived. But what is clear is how fast the power held by his administration was dismantled once the war was over and what an orgy of reprisal and wreckage went on for more than a decade afterward. By the end of 1865 fully half the Navy had been sold off at bargain prices to Yankee shipping companies; by 1867 there were but 56 (out of more than 400) warships in commission. The military railroad network also vanished into private hands. The speculation in the greenback currencies sparked cycles of boom and panic for the next 20 years.
The longer-term reaction to Lincoln’s seizure of power left Washington impotent as an influence over the shaping of America’s industrial evolution for the rest of that century. The public was left exhausted by the horrors of the war and in the rush for reparations turned violently revengeful not only against the errant former Confederates but against any group perceived as a threat, whether immigrants, early labor union organizers, or women seeking to expand control over their own lives. By 1900 the ostensible beneficiaries of the Civil War, the three and a half million former slaves, had seen many of their civil liberties nullified in fact and in law and many were no better off economically. In much of the nation, be it rural South or urban North, they were the target of unspeakable violence and hatred. So viral was political revulsion in the South that in many states as many poor whites were disenfranchised as blacks.
NOR IS THIS AN ISOLATED CASE. Think for a moment about what happened to the attempts of two other presidents who took the Lincoln playbook and essentially institutionalized extraordinary powers-police, economic, and cultural-using the excuse of wartime crisis. Woodrow Wilson, starting in 1915, a year before his reelection campaign on a peace platform, began to seize the reins of political and economic controls needed to gear up the American war machine. Unlike Lincoln’s, Wilson’s war powers were more formally and institutionally organized because he was able to get a pliant Democratic-controlled Congress to ratify his orders. Creation of a War Industries Board (headed by his campaign funding angel, Bernard Baruch) was a de facto nationalization of not only the railroads but much of American heavy industry as well. The Trading with the Enemy Act and the Overman Act institutionalized Wilson’s control over food prices and the nation’s export and import industries, and obligated the financial sector to fund the war effort without complaint.
The Espionage Act and the Committee on Information that ruthlessly crushed any protests or quibbles about the war were positively Lincolnesque. Newspapers were suppressed and protesters were jailed without warrant. While the jailing of Socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs was mutedly criticized by some as overreaching, no voice was raised at the construction at Fort Oglethorpe near Atlanta and at Chattanooga of concentration camps where more than 4,000 German and Austrian “aliens” (including poets, scholars, musicians, and businessmen) were interned without recourse to the courts; of those not deported at the war’s end as many as 300 remained in the camps until 1920.
About the Author
James Srodes, an author and broadcaster, is a former Washington bureau chief for Forbes and Financial Worldmagazines. His latest book, On Dupont Circle: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Progressives Who Shaped Our World, is being published next week. His email address is srodesnews@msn.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (71) | Leave a comment
More Articles by James Srodes
More Articles From Feature
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/01/a-long-shot-one-term-obama
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Mattled| 9.1.09 @ 7:33AM
Each day we witness another Obama transgressions. The latest being "union" only workers are to work on federal buildings.
Good luck with that.
I just read Broadcasting & Cable and they had a story about local TV stations losing tons of money.
Nowhere did the story contain the fact that network news has become so biased, people by the hundreds, thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands and into millions are not watching network news, network programming and therefore bypassing local news as well.
I know we are. After years of recording (DVR) the 6:00 a.m ABC affiliate morning news, I haven't watched in over a year.
Can't stand the sight of Dianne, George Stepphie and Chris Cuomo (blech) "pretending" to be objective journalists in the morning tease----sorry local General Managers---until you guys (and gals) get your respective networks in line, get rid of the Obama pom-poms----we're gone. Try to find more than one story per week critical of this "Dictatorship" ---without some silver lining infused.
CNN, ridiculously, has been maintaining that we are out of the recession since June----yeah right----enjoy third place news ratings.
iamse7en| 9.1.09 @ 8:14AM
Thanks for this. The quality of writing is very refreshing to read. I love these AmSpec columns, and I'm surprised there aren't more people reading them.
I really liked the history lesson and comparison to other presidents and conditions. They're amazingly similar. I'm young, and I was not taught a lot about FDR and Lincoln's seize of power. It's amazing how the text books are written. I fear they will not be as kind to Bush. Should they be?
St. Thor| 9.1.09 @ 9:28AM
Presidents Clinton and Bush were each elected to two terms. There have not been three sequential presidents in the history of the United States elected to two terms since Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. History is against Obama getting a second term.
toby| 11.24.09 @ 11:57AM
What about FDR, Truman, Ike, JFK, and Nixon? Truman served almost 100% of FDR's term then won an election in his own right. JFK would have won reelection.
Dustoff| 9.1.09 @ 10:06AM
Let's face it. Obama has lied since his first days in office. Can you say lobbiest to start off with.
As everyday passes his errors grow & grow. Plus his numbers have been in a free fall.
Not only does his chance look very slim for re-election, but both Congress & Senate may change come 2010.
One term Obama| 9.1.09 @ 10:39AM
The Horrifying Reality Slowly Begins to Break Through
Story:
Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. In the first half of this year, 14,338 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths, according to a new report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Last month alone, 3,149 civilians were killed -- an average of more than 100 a day.
hardius| 9.1.09 @ 10:59AM
Even though Congress may change the things Congress is doing will not change. The GOP and the Dems have the same goals, destroy the Constitution, destroy the Dollar. Check out history if you do not believe these allegations.
This next quote is premature but one of my favorites.
"It is a time when men work silently in the fields and women weep quietly in the kitchen, for Congress is in session and no mans property is safe". Credit to Mark Twain.
Congressional attacks on our rights, property, and currency are vicious, unending, and done by both parties.
May God protect the Constitution for there is no one else doing it.
Louis Jenkins| 9.1.09 @ 11:11AM
"To be fair, Mr. Obama has not had any dissenters slung into prison, at least not yet. "
Okay, so he hasn't. But his to do list is growing and includes veterans, pro-lifers, Constitutionalists, Barr and Paul supporters, gun owners, etc. And FEMA detention (oh I'm sorry) relocation centers are out there. The construction contracts are a fact.
Each president named (and others too) has taken a chink out of the foundation of our liberties. Soon there will be nothing for the house of freedom to rest upon. Will Obama need to worry about a re-election?
Violence only breeds violence| 9.1.09 @ 11:47AM
Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence
Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger.
The Jewish identity in the future appears bleak. Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead and, especially a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs. In Tel Aviv in 2004 I had the opportunity to speak to some Members of Parliament and Peace activists all of whom argued that the wall and the military build-up was necessary to protect the nation and the people. In other words, I asked, you believe that you can create a snake pit -- with many deadly snakes in it -- and expect to live in the pit secure and alive? What do you mean? they countered. Well, with your superior weapons and armaments and your attitude towards your neighbors would it not be right to say that you are creating a snake pit? How can anyone live peacefully in such an atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?
Apparently, in the modern world, so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept. You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.
By Arun Gandhi | January 7, 2008; 2:50 PM ET
Duke| 9.1.09 @ 11:50AM
You know, each day that goes by exposes obama for what he is. Frankly, a liar. He has exposed just about all of his campaign promises and assertions as lies. He has no intention of seeking bi-partisanship in anything! He is determined to shove his ideas and concepts down the throats of the American people regardless of their wishes. The idea of his second term is the stuff of nightmares. However, isn't it a delicious thought of him and the majority of congress being dumped out onto the street? The more time that passes, the more it seems possible...... we'll see..... film at eleven!
WhoControlsTheMoneyWrites Laws| 9.1.09 @ 11:54AM
Who controls the media controls how you think.
Who controls the money, writes the laws.
Who profits from wars, decides when and where the next war will be.
Who thinks they are free are already enslaved.
Interest rates decides how much you need to borrow to educate your children. Goes back to who controles the money decides interest rates.
What does Obama control? what did Bush control?
Ned| 9.1.09 @ 12:00PM
Like the presidency is a tiger to be ridden I picture the country as a huge engine that no one completely understands.
President Obama has all the manuals, at least the ones he likes, and has studied them so he thinks he knows enough to adjust the controls to his advantage and make the machine run more to his liking.
But like others he will find out that while he is pulling on one lever someone or something else is pushing another.
The machine is going to run, it ain't going to quit. However thanks to over-zealous tinkering it might sputter and cough or even miss a little, but if it has the opportunity it will correct its timing and purr like a big puddy cat once again.
President Obama reminds me of the kid who gets a new car, which runs fine, and he can't leave the motor alone. Before long it is running like crap causing his father to say, the car would run just fine if the kid had only learned to leave the hood shut.
Expulsion of Palestinians| 9.1.09 @ 12:08PM
Expulsion of Palestinians from UAE draws criticism
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:04:32 GMT
The Palestinians residing in the United Arab Emirates have expressed their criticism at a government decision to expel thousands of them under the pretext of security concerns.
PALESTINIANS WILL HAVE TO RETURN TO ISRAEL WHERE THEY ARE FROM.
Palestinian refugees, in a letter addressed to the ruling al-Nahyan family, drew attention to their plight caused by the Israeli occupation and called upon high-profile Emirati authorities to reverse the decision.
The letter went on to highlight that the expulsion of the Palestinians who have been in the UAE for over two decades would undoubtedly exert undue strain on them as well as their families.
It also lambasted the UAE government's persecution of the Palestinians who have been ordered to leave the Middle East country, rapping officials over the degrading treatment that the Palestinians receive at the Persian Gulf state's Interior Ministry.
This is while the Palestinians in question have had no criminal record and no history of violence.
Almost 350 Palestinian teachers have faced the axe this year as part of an Education Ministry decision to replace them with Emirati nationals.
The UAE nationals would replace the Palestinian teachers in Arabic, English and mathematics.
James McPherson | 9.1.09 @ 12:13PM
Nice history--but glaringly overlooked is how George W. Bush and his fellow neocons (backed by The American Spectator as well as much of the so-called liberal mainstream press) copied much of the formula above (the Patriot Act providing just one example) for the war in Iraq, which gave us Obama and the current Democratic majority.
And for anyone placing bets, and though 2012 is a long way off in political years, I'd wager that Obama--like Lincoln, Wilson, FDR and Bush--will be re-elected. (By the way, I'm not the same James McPherson cited in the essay.)
Who is responsible? Obama, NO| 9.1.09 @ 12:37PM
Lexicon ▪ Special coverage ▪ Magazine
Swastika in Zurich Photo courtesy of the Jewish Agency
Foxman: Anti-Semitism alive and well
Survey: 31% of Europeans blame economic crisis on Jews
Anti-Defamation League poll conducted in seven European countries shows almost half of Europeans believe Jews more loyal to Israel than countries they live in, 40% say Jews have too much power
Ynet Published: 02.10.09, 18:42 / Israel News
Anti-Semitic attitudes still prevail in Europe: An Anti-Defamation League report published on Tuesday showed that nearly half of the Europeans surveyed believe Jews are not loyal to their country and more than one-third believe they have "too much power" in business and finance.
The study further showed that 31% of the respondents across Europe blame Jews in the financial industry for the current global economic crisis.
Hatred
ADL sees 'pandemic of anti-Semitism' / Reuters
US Jewish leader Abraham Foxman says Israel's military offensive in Gaza answered with hatred, attacks against Jews 'from Austria to Zimbabwe.' Civilized world must stand up and say 'No' to condemn 'this vicious, hideous violence,' he adds
Full Story
The poll was conducted between the dates December 1 and January 13 among 3,500 adults in seven European countries: Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Overall, 40% of Europeans in those countries believe that Jews have too much power in the business world, with more than half of Hungarian, Spanish and Polish respondents agreeing with that statement.
The findings were similar to those of a 2007 ADL survey that found significant percentages of Europeans continue to believe in some of the most pernicious anti-Semitic stereotypes.
"This poll confirms that anti-Semitism remains alive and well in the minds of many Europeans," said ADL Director Abraham Foxman.
"It is distressing that there seems to be no movement away from the constancy of anti-Semitic held views, with accusations about Jews of disloyalty, control and responsibility for the death of Jesus," he added.
"In the wake of the global financial crisis, the strong belief of excessive Jewish influence on business and finance is especially worrisome," Mr. Foxman added.
"Clearly, age old anti-Semitic stereotypes die hard, particularly on a continent which is witnessing a surge in violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions following the war in Gaza."
'Jews talk about Holocaust too much'
A comparison with the 2007 survey indicates that levels of anti-Semitism have remained steady in six of the seven countries tested.
The United Kingdom was the only country in which there was a marked decline. Meanwhile, the percentage of those believing that Jews "have too much power in the business world" increased by 7% in Hungary, 6% in Poland and 5% in France.
Advertisement
Overall, nearly half of those surveyed in the seven countries believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own country. A majority of respondents in Germany, Poland and Spain believe that this statement is "probably true;" in Spain, it is 64%.
Large portions of the European public continue to believe that Jews "talk about the Holocaust too much." Overall, 44% of those surveyed believe this statement is "probably true". A majority of respondents in Austria, Hungary and Poland believe it to be true
JP| 9.1.09 @ 12:44PM
The chances are still good that Obama will win a second presidency. Remember, the GOP is leaderless, and 3 Moderates (Huckabee, Pawlenty, Romney) are in the wings. President Carter's 1980 Campaign didn't really collapse until late Summer, and he was very unpopular. Up until Octobe he still polled well.
Not only would events have to overtake Obama, but the GOP would have to be united in its opposition. What is more likely is that the GOP will make huge strides in 2010 and 2012 in Congress; the GOP may even re-take both Houses by 2012. In the meantime, President Obama will carry a minoirty of voters (like Clinton, perhaps as low as 43%) into a second term.
Of course, all of that can change in a heart beat. Another terror attack, defeats in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or even worse a lingering rescession well into 2011 could doom a second Obama Presidency.
L. Ross| 9.1.09 @ 12:46PM
Before Obama took office, I thought he was a lot like Jimmy Carter, without the executive experience. Turns out he is a lot like Jimmy Carter without the executive experience.
He has no knowledge of the military whatsoever. He has no ability to deliver on his myriad campaign promises. His vision of what America should be scares the crap out of most Americans. I rate the chance of his re-election at less that 30%. He did not have a resounding victory over John McCain, the weakest candidate since Bob Dole. If we can get someone with an ounce of charisma and leadership, Obama will be gone in about 40 months.
Simon Templar| 9.1.09 @ 1:07PM
I think the article was ridiculous and another example of the strange ignorance or perhaps denial of some conservative columnist to recognize that this presidency is a historical abberation and nothing like FDR or any other presidency. The electorate placed in power an individual who is an American progressive SOCIALIST. The far left elements of this society hoodwinked a sizable portion of the population and craftily presented him as a centrist, covered up his past associations, distracted the public with his charm and minority status, and set the stage for economic crisis that led to his victory. How many more communists and ex-American terrorist does this guy have to appoint to government positions for you to wake up? Try reading his book and tell me this guy is just another chip off the old block. Short of him making an announcement on prime time TV that he is a socialist detailing an honest expose of his intentions to fundamentally change America, what in the hell will it take? WAKE THE FK UP!
Obama two terms after all| 9.1.09 @ 1:10PM
Obama’s political blackmail
Michael Fenenbock slams Obama’s decision to link two-state solution, help with Iran
Michael Fenenbock Published: 09.01.09, 08:19 / Israel Opinion
As reported last week, President Obama has now linked forcing Israeli concessions on a two-state solution to American help with Iran and its nuclear ambitions. The Obama administration is prepared to offer Israel tougher action against Iran’s nuclear program if the Netanyahu government agrees to stop building in east Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.
In essence, political blackmail.
This “linkage” underscores Israel’s relative powerlessness in its dialogue with the US. Simply put, Netanyahu has no cards to play. Bibi has nothing of value to trade. He has zero leverage. He has nothing to threaten as retaliation.
Presient Obama’s Chicago-style political hardball has serious implications for Israel. Forcing Israel to “go it alone” with Iran by withholding targeting information, satellite images, over-flight permissions, technical help jamming air defenses – and a whole host of other behind-the-scenes assistance – reduces the chance of Israeli military success.
But President Obama’s mafia-style offer “that Israel cannot refuse” also has serious implications for America. And if American voters knew, it is a policy they would reject.
Let me repeat that. American voters would reject a policy of forcing Israel to “go it alone.”
In a May 2009 Rasmussen poll, 49% of Americans agreed that, if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. Thirty-seven percent (37%) believed the United States should do nothing while just 2% believe the US should help Iran.
Sixty-six percent (66%) of all voters said that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel. That was up 14 percentage points from 52% in July 2008.
Americans understand better than the Obama administration, it seems, that it is in the US’ vital interest that should Israel decide it has no option except a military strike on Iran, that the Israeli mission must succeed.
Launch national campaign
Netanyahu surely understands that as well. But…Bibi has no cards to play. In the face of political blackmail on a vital issue such as Iran, he can only retreat inch by inch and hope for better ground to defend. Without leverage, Netanyahu is forced to bargain away the Jewish claim to Judea and Samaria while hoping to keep a tenuous hold on an undivided Jerusalem.
Caroline Glick is right when she says of the Israeli negotiating position, “The game is rigged against us.”
But here in America we can apply the ultimate political leverage – the American voter – to put some cards in Bibi’s hand.
We can use those poll numbers of American support and common sense as a platform to launch a national campaign designed to break the linkage between the two-state solution and American help on Iran.
We can remind American voters why, absent of the world preventing a nuclear Iran, Israel might be forced to make the difficult choice of a military strike as a means of self-defense.
And we can send a message through the American voter to President Obama – it is in the US’ vital national interest that any Israeli military strike succeed. Don’t deny Israel the help it needs as part of your diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East. Should it come down to a military strike, help Israel succeed. The world – and the US – will be better for it.
Without a concerted, national campaign in America, without a campaign that makes President Obama pay a political price for his linkage policy, a campaign that causes the Obama administration pain, I fear Judea and Samaria, and probably a united Jerusalem, may be lost.
Advertisement
I close with another quote from Caroline Glick, “As we have been all too often in our history, today Israel stands alone against our enemies. We can either defeat them, or we can be defeated. The choice is ours.”
Michael Fenenbock is President of MAX Films and a long-time American political consultant. With his wife Daphne Weisbart, he founded www.DeNukeIran.com. Michael and Daphne live in New York, but spend much of their time in Jerusalem
talkback Print Send to friend
Bookmark to del.icio.us
See More God has no mercy on cops The smalltime patriot
15 Talkbacks for this article See all talkbacks
1. chicago boy
michel , france (09.01.09)
2. Obama Is Setting Us Up
Reuven Brauner , Raanana, Israel (09.01.09)
3. Obama and blackmail
DT , TA Israel (09.01.09)
4. Obama is absolutely right
Aryeh Vardi , Haifa; Israel (09.01.09)
5. Obama's blackmail- reply to Mr. Vardi
Lali , Tel Aviv (09.01.09)
6. america at it again?
tony , abuja, nigeria (09.01.09)
7. Israel vs Obama blackmail
Brod , USA (09.01.09)
8. Obama is wrong
Brod , USA (09.01.09)
9. his real face
martine , ashdod (09.01.09)
10. Actually, Israel has some cards
(09.01.09)
11. Reverse Blackmail
Ronald , Amsterdam — Holland (09.01.09)
12. Obama the charlatan
Ilan , Ariel (09.01.09)
13. Jewish demorats
Laura , USA (09.01.09)
14. Obama is an Arab sympathizer.
Steven Wilson , Anchorage, Alaska (09.01.09)
15. Correction #7 Israel vs Obama blackmail
Brod , USA (09.01.09)
S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 1:28PM
"But President Obama’s mafia-style offer “that Israel cannot refuse” also has serious implications for America. And if American voters knew, it is a policy they would reject."
Not at all. As I have said before, President Obama should withhold Israel's yearly $3 billion welfare check until they learn to show respect for their benefactor. It is not seemly for an American dependency to disobey America, especially while the hard earned dollars of American citizens are confiscated and sent to the other side of the world to pay for Israel's walls and guns. Where are all the phony “conservative” opponents of excessive confiscatory taxation when that money is sent to foreign country on the other side of the globe, with whom we share scant vital interest?
If Israel is earnest and chooses to strike out on her own – to, say, attack Iran against the express wishes of the United States, or to refuse to remove West Bank settlements, or to refuse the two-state solution - then I say let her spread her wings and fly from the nest, unencumbered by the many strings attached to the billions and billions of dollars Americans earn but Israel spends. Let Israel shut off that pipeline of largess that flows ceaselessly into its coffers, shed the ragged mantle of the beggar, stand on her own two feet at last and finally make her own way in the world without American economic or political intervention.
Free Israel, I say!
Or, if Israel wishes to continue to bury her snout in the trough of American largess, then she should learn her place and in act accordance with the wishes of that benefactor nation whose charity Israel has for so long taken for granted.
Dump the Blood Diamonds| 9.1.09 @ 1:34PM
Israeli mogul's empire foundering
Shares in one of Jewish state's largest companies, Africa Israel Investments Ltd., plummet by one-third in two days after its diamond tycoon owner Lev Leviv acknowledges possible problems paying off billion of dollars in company debts
Associated Press Published: 08.31.09, 17:40 / Israel Business
Shares in Africa Israel Investments Ltd, one of Israel's largest companies, have plummeted by one-third in two days after its diamond tycoon owner acknowledged possible problems paying off billion of dollars in company debts.
The holding and investment company, in which billionaire diamond baron Lev Leviev owns a 75% stake, has lost some $1.4 billion since the beginning of 2008, battered in large part by soured real estate investments in the US and to a lesser extent, Russia.
Leviev's Troubles
UK Embassy cancels move, cites settlement concerns / Associated Press
Embassy calls off plans to move to building partly owned by Billionaire Lev Leviev, who's believed to be involved in construction projects in settlements. Embassy's plans to relocate prompted wave or protest several months ago
Full story
On Monday, the company's shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange shed 13.6%, having lost 25% a day earlier over Africa Israel's announcement it might have trouble making debt payments by 2011 and was seeking to restructure its obligations.
The company's debt currently totals some $5.5 billion, at a time when declining global property prices have forced Africa Israel to sharply write down the value of its assets.
The steep stock drop Sunday prompted Israel's central bank to issue a statement reassuring the Israeli public that Africa-Israel's restructuring plans would not destabilize the nation's lenders. Africa Israel is one of the country's largest companies, but its troubles aren't reflected as sharply in the broader economy, which is less heavily exposed to the global real estate crisis.
Oh OBama, the Hero ah ahah ah| 9.1.09 @ 1:42PM
Well said Mr Toddard.
American taxes to fund American people. Who would bankrupt themselves to fund a foreigner, except America. That's what made America great, to the point of bankruptcy.
What is the debt today 11 Trillion or 16 Trillion?
S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 1:53PM
"What is the debt today 11 Trillion or 16 Trillion?"
I believe it's 11 Trillion. Have you noticed how "conservatives" are all of a sudden oh-so-very concerned about Big Government and Big Spending? Here, as I noted before, is how you can tell whether a "conservative" is sincere in his or her opposition to Big Spending Big Government or whether they are merely opportunistic, cynical Liberals-In-Conservative's-Clothing:
When George W Bush took office, Clinton handed him a $232 billion budget surplus, and the national debt stood at $5.7 trillion. George W Bush left office with an annual budget *deficit* of over $1 TRILLION dollars and the national debt stood at $10.6 TRILLION DOLLARS. That means George W Bush added almost as much to the national debt as ALL THE PRECEDING PRESIDENTS COMBINED.
Now, which pretend-enemies of "big government" and "big spending" here opposed President Bush while he was spending up a storm and running up the national debt as much all the American presidents in history combined? Who fought *against* his re-election? Who here fought *against* his reckless-spending party - the GOP, which held both houses of congress through most of this time - and supported a Conservative instead of a Republican last election?
If you didn't - which is to say if you supported this fiscally irresponsible, wasteful, big spending party (the GOP) that ran up a trillion dollar budget deficit and nearly doubled the national debt - then your objections to the big government policies and fiscal irresponsibility of Barack Obama are - quite obviously - laughable and not to be taken seriously. Such people are called "opportunists" - they are inconsistent, dishonorable, dishonest, unpatriotic and - obviously and inarguably - *unconservative*. For what else can you call someone who supports reckless spending and unrestrained gov't growth when their party is responsible but a cynical liberal?
Africa the next victim| 9.1.09 @ 2:33PM
Lieberman seeks bolstered ties with Africa
Foreign minister slated to embark Wednesday on tour of Africa, will focus on strengthening economic, trade ties as well as Iranian issue
Roni Sofer Published: 09.01.09, 19:57 / Israel News
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will leave Wednesday for Africa, where he will visit Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda. During his visit, he will bring up the Iranian issue in light of Iran's efforts to develop ties with the continent.
Some 20 businessmen from the energy, agriculture, shipping, water, infrastructure, chemical, media, and military industrial sectors will accompany the minister on his trip. Senior government clerks from the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Defense Ministry, and the National Security Council will also join Lieberman.
On the eve of his departure, Lieberman said, "A visit to Africa has great importance for the strengthening and improvement of Israel's status in the international community and will help advance Israeli interests in international forums. In addition, the visit will strengthen economic and business ties between the countries."
Lieberman added that his visit is part of his plans to develop new channels in Israel's foreign policy. "Israel has been absent for many years from entire regions in the world. During my visit to South Africa, I realized the great importance hosting states place on these visits and their contribution to relations between the countries," said the foreign minister.
Minister Lieberman will start off his African tour in Addis Ababa where he will meet with the prime minister and his Ethiopian counterpart. While there, he will consecrate a project for developing farming human capital in Ethiopia. The United States is also a partner in the project. Israel's Agriculture Minister, the US ambassador, and a representative from USAID will also participating in the project's launch ceremony.
Foreign Minister Lieberman will travel to Nairobi, Kenya on Friday where he will meet with the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, and the water minister in order to sign a Kenyan-Israeli water agreement. Lieberman will also meet with the Jewish community at the synagogue in Nairobi, and hand over a donation of agricultural kits from Israel to Kenya. He and the UN under-secretary general are also expected to sign a renewed and expanded cooperation agreement between the countries.
Advertisement
Lieberman will visit Ghana on Monday where he will meet with the president and the foreign minister. On Tuesday, he will visit Nigeria where he will meet that country's foreign minister, the vice president, and the defense minister. He and the trade minister will also sign a trade agreement between the two countries.
During his visit to Nigeria, Lieberman will also sign on a memorandum of understanding and cooperation implementation agreement with the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS).
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Lieberman will land in Uganda where he will meet with the president and the foreign minister. He will also participate in a memorial ceremony for the victims of the Entebbe rescue operation.
Wake up or die| 9.1.09 @ 2:44PM
What's the scam in Africa, let me guess, give them their old Arms they got from America free, for Gold and Oil. Or they may want to start a PRINTING PRESS, printing worthless bits of paper call it money backed with nothing and give the Africans the paper while they steal their gold for nothing.
Oh they have done that before, to guess who, the super power America, who is now broke from borrowing to spend defending the theives who bankrupted their country, ah ah ah ahah hahhhah, I can't stop laughing for how stupid people can be. Some call it anti-semetic, the joke is the people are not semetic. They are theives, who has bamboozeled Americans, out smart and out wit you, while you are speaking about the Holocaust, that they told you about and making money every one was saying how nasty people are, they never told you they are nasty too. They will steal your house, your car, your pension, your life savings kill you steal your organs and sell it for money, that is who you're up against. People still say its a lie even when Goldman Sacs has stolen their life savings in their PONZI schemes.
Lieberman out of Africa| 9.1.09 @ 3:34PM
Nahum Barnea ▪ Sever Plocker
Education Crisis
Adi Mintz Photo: Dan Balilti
I’m religious, and ashamed
Adi Mintz slams shameful anti-Ethiopian racism displayed by some religious schools
Adi Mintz Published: 09.01.09, 00:13 / Israel Opinion
I’m ashamed. As a proud son of the Religious-Zionist camp I’m ashamed of what is taking place in a handful of religious schools in Petah Tikva.
I’m ashamed precisely because we take pride in the fruit of Religious-Zionist education and in the graduates who integrate into the army and other walks of life. We are proud of the morals we impart to our children and of educating them to sacrifice and love the land, the Torah, and the people of Israel.
Solution Found?
Schools to take in Ethiopian students / Yaheli Moran Zelikovich
After weeks of uncertainty and strike threats, agreement reached on education crisis in Petah Tikva. Three religious private schools to admit 108 children of Ethiopian descent this year, 30 of whom will begin studying Tuesday morning as school year begins
Full story
I’m ashamed because those who make pretenses of educating children to love the people of Israel cannot adopt discriminatory policies, regardless of how logical the reasoning may be (there may be different reasons for the conduct of principals, yet this should have been resolved a long time ago, and most certainly not by keeping members of the Ethiopian community out.)
I’m ashamed on behalf of the parents at the schools who are not protesting and making it clear to the principals that such acts contradict the values they want their children to learn.
As a child, I once traveled on a bus. I took my seat while other children were sitting around me. The bus filled up, and then an older lady stood next to me and, with a sense of disgust, said something that was etched into me like a burn: “He’s religious yet he doesn’t give up his seat for the sake of an older woman.” I got up with horror and let her sit, but I didn’t understand: Why was this woman only angry at me?
In retrospect, today I’m proud of what she did and for putting me in my place. I discovered that when I wear a kippah I am no longer merely an individual but also a representative, and that I’m expected to behave differently.
Desecrating God’s name
A person who wears a kippah does not make do with adhering to the mitzvahs; he declares openly that he is committed to adhering to them. He lets everyone know that he chose to be religious and adhere to all the mitzvahs, including the ones regulating our behavior towards others, such as the rules of conduct on the street and at work, the mitzvah of loving foreigners, orphans, and widows, and the mitzvah to grant special treatment to the weak members of society, and particularly to those who look different and wish to integrate among us.
Beyond all this, a religious person supposedly represents the Creator, and when such person misbehaves he openly desecrates God’s name.
Haredi media outlets are upset that “secular” media outlets emphasize the fact that the so-called “starving mother” is ultra-Orthodox, and that every anomaly in the haredi community sees the same emphasis, while not noting that a “leftist secular murdered his daughter.” Yet I believe this is proper. Those who present themselves outwardly as religious or haredi inform the whole world that they must not steal or lie not only in line with the State of Israel’s laws, but also in line with the fear of God they are committed to – after all, this is what they declare to all with their appearance.
Sergiy | 9.1.09 @ 4:27PM
Large portions of the European public continue to believe that Jews "talk about the Holocaust too much." Overall, 44% of those surveyed believe this statement is "probably true". A majority of respondents in Austria, Hungary and Poland believe it to be true
Building on stolen land| 9.1.09 @ 5:12PM
Prestige
Simulation of G Tel Aviv tower PR photo
TA: 2 luxury flats sold for NIS 19 million
G Tel-Aviv project's deputy marketing director says apartments sold for prices 25% higher than deals signed half a year ago
Ory Chudy, Calcalist Published: 08.06.09, 16:09 / Israel Business
Gindi Holdings Ltd. has sold two apartments in its G Tel Aviv project for NIS 19 million (about $4.86 million).
One of the flats, located on the tower's eighth floor, measures 265 square meters (2,852 square feet) in size and was sold for NIS 9 million ($2.3 million) to a Manhattan resident. The second apartment, located on the 15th floor, measures 243 square meters (2,615 square feet) in size and was sold to a high-tech worker for NIS 10 million ($2.5 million).
Advertisement
"What we see here is a price increase of $500,000 – 25%, compared to deals signed about half a year ago," says project's marketing manager, Sharon Muman. "This deal basically completes the sales of the entire project, which has one last penthouse left."
The Tel Aviv G project is a 31-floor tower which is being constructed over nearly 1 acre on the corner of Ibn Gvirol and Hashoftim streets. The total investment in the project totaled NIS 450 million ($115 million). The tower will be 120 meters (393 feet) high and will include 37 apartments.
What would Jesus say?| 9.1.09 @ 5:17PM
Where does these people get the money from to buy thes expensive properties? I would imagine from killing and selling Palestinians organs.
The thing about Israelis they are so Religious, that their crimes goes un-noticed. But the first to call others Nazis, anti-semetic, and what ever else they call Goyims, while they steal from them, and occupy their country.
Property on Palestinian | 9.1.09 @ 5:45PM
Live in Tel Aviv - Suite Rental
Live in a recently renovated Bauhaus style building, in a comfortable, high standard apartment with the most modern facilities.
Live in the very heart of Tel Aviv, a young and exciting city that never stops, and at the same time serene and indulgent. Like all the central cities in the world, Tel Aviv is being renewed while maintaining its unique character, after being declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site because of the number of Bauhaus style building that give it a special character.
Tel Aviv is the center of the country's culture, art and entertainment –appetizing restaurants, modern cafes, boisterous bars, beautiful boulevards and lively sea shores. All this in walking distance of the apartment building.
Buy anApartment on stolen land| 9.1.09 @ 5:57PM
Oh what gives the property its character, it's built on stolen land, we lied and got the land for free, we told the Jesus lovers that god gave us the land. Hey it's laughable that people are so stupid they believe this stuff.
You can even have a birds eye view of the murders of Palestinians from your window, it's great, what do you say?
As Jews we don't mind admitting we are murders most fowl. It's win win for us all we rob steal using a phoney Banking system in America, we steal land, we kill for profit, and sell them the story of the Bible and the Holocaust. If Jesus was all they say he was, really what would he say, if we are gods chosen people and we can commit these types of crimes what does it say about the Bible believers? they are as sick as we are.
Israel controls America and it's dead finished, we destroyed it those stupid Goyims. The ideology of the Jews, is to destroy Gentiles, and steal from them, they are too stupid to know any better.
Keep out the Republicans| 9.1.09 @ 6:42PM
Obama the one termer, he was picked to serve one term. While he is asleep at the wheel, Israel build the apartment blocks, on Palestinian land, and Isreal can try to draw America into another illegal war.
Israel is no dobut planning another attack in America to claim its Iran or the Saudi-Arabians to try to gain access to the Saudies country. All the Axis of evil was countries that the Zionist Criminal Banking system had no foot hold in.
Yes, and they dont care what sort of crimes they have to commit to gain entery, even if it's on American soil, they don't care because it's about control of the worlds banking system. Thats is what these crooked theives is all about war makes money and banks can cook the books.
Audit the FED. Expose the 9/11 Jew bastards who killed 3000 Americans. To draw America into Iraq to profit their Military industrial complex, and the Banking Crooks, and the Carlyle group and Haliburton, Dick Cheney can't wait to start a war with Iran to mane some more .
He can't stop speaking about how Obama is not keeping America secure, secure from what, what is he upto, trying to get back into office to start world war 3.
Alan Brooks| 9.1.09 @ 7:09PM
but after 1/20/'09 we didn't have to deal with a RINO anymore.
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.1.09 @ 8:04PM
Lincoln’s usurping of the constitution through “war powers” occurred due to the era’s slow information flow, most of his “smoke filled room” decisions were over and done before anyone knew about them, acquiescence was after the fact. It is for certain that Obama tried to emulate this, but even the timing of the summer recess and his overwhelming legislative margins were undone by the “instant” access to the committee markups and the “gotcha” factor of spontaneity and the 24/7 nature of the Internet.
It is ironic that the inevitable devastation of the 2010 elections will be in large part due to the “race card,” a card played most often by the legions of trumpeting media and intended to discredit the right. This usually effective tactic inexplicably is failing; their partisan scrutiny is like water off the back of a duck in Sarah Palin’s game bag.
So, where is the focus of discredit? It is falling, not on the corruption of the old/not black (white)/bastions of incumbents, but on many of the beltway cronies that are equally corrupt but “look like Diana Watson.” Corruption - Rangle, Jefferson, racial partisanship – the aforementioned Watson, the hypocrisy of Powel, the gang under the bus - grandma, Wright, and the Marxist fraternity are claiming most of the attention. The greatest fostering of segregation since Jim Crow is being perpetrated by the MSM under the guise of grandstanding for the chosen one. Luckily for the conservatives they are a “one trick pony” and cannot help themselves.
true religion jeans | 9.1.09 @ 9:24PM
You can even have a birds eye view of the murders of Palestinians from your window, it's great, what do you say?
Lynne| 9.1.09 @ 9:32PM
SL Toddard is responsible for all of the Jew hating excrement that is all over AmSpec. Look at this thread alone. Anti Semite.
SL Toddard should be banned.
AConservativeLesbian | 9.1.09 @ 10:36PM
When you intend to be president-for-life, then you only need the one term.
Anonymous| 9.2.09 @ 12:26AM
Then there's the war... Afghanistan could do for Obama what Viet Nam did for LBJ and the hostages (not to mention the "killer rabbit") did for Jimmy Carter.
Robert Simpson| 9.2.09 @ 1:10AM
The current Vegas odds for the re-election of President Obama is 3-2 in favor. Of course, there is no way to predict what events lie in our future that will influence the election.
Jessie| 9.2.09 @ 1:32AM
I thinks those odds are going to go negative for Obama when they find out that his approvals are at 42% and dropping.
Robert| 9.2.09 @ 6:52AM
Obama will be a one-term president? So it was predicted of Chavez and Ahmadinejad.
Obama has good mentors and will succeed himself in a similar manner as these two 'gentlemen'.
Pingback| 9.2.09 @ 1:30PM
Obama Peeved, So Escalates Media Attacks vs. “Love Is in the Air” (video) « Frugal C links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Nobama| 9.2.09 @ 2:29PM
We're Americans. We are not Iranians or Venezuelans. Don't bet on Obama yet.
Father Zossima| 9.3.09 @ 5:08PM
I may not like Obama, but what pile of cr_p will the Republicans run against him this time? Someone like the witless dubya, who only looked marginally better than the two awful democrat candidates run in 2000 and 2004? John McCain, a man who was almost as left-wing as Teddy Kennedy and made the cryptkeeper look like a GQ model?
Conservatives need to stop throwing their votes away on republicans. Since they've proved time and again to be only infinitesimally less liberal than democrats, it matters little if Obama wins or a republican wins, and a vote cast for a third candidate would be more valuable used to make a philosophic statement than wasted to put in another big-spending, government-loving republican.
Father Zossima| 9.3.09 @ 5:22PM
S.L.Stoddard wrote: "When George W Bush took office, Clinton handed him a $232 billion budget surplus, and the national debt stood at $5.7 trillion. George W Bush left office with an annual budget *deficit* of over $1 TRILLION dollars and the national debt stood at $10.6 TRILLION DOLLARS. That means George W Bush added almost as much to the national debt as ALL THE PRECEDING PRESIDENTS COMBINED. "
This is one among reasons why I finally left the republican party, and why, as bad as Barry O is, any republican who replaced him would be only infinitesimally better.
Nobama| 9.4.09 @ 12:35AM
In his first 6 months, Obama's budget deficits already are greater than ALL American Presidents--including George W. Bush--combined. Obama is far far worse.
support him | 9.4.09 @ 3:58AM
President Obama’s mafia-style offer “that Israel cannot refuse” also has serious implications for America. And if American voters knew, it is a policy they would reject.
Bailey Button Ugg Boots
Pingback| 9.4.09 @ 6:00PM
Gov. Tim Pawlenty Speaks Out Against Obama’s Sept. 8 Televised School Address, Many links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Alan Brooks| 9.10.09 @ 10:47PM
I did not vote for Obama, but I will in '12, because the GOP is now anti-conservative, destructive.
The party of Coolidge devolved into the party of George W. Bush.
Besides, Obama is a Clinton who doesn't drop his trousers at the drop of a hat. (is that mixing metaphors?)
Alan Brooks| 9.12.09 @ 12:01AM
having written the above, Bush was preferable to Carter, Toddard.
Carter was the most-overrated (which says nothing to begin with) potus ever. Carter gets a pass because he did mean well. No one ever, not even Neville Chamberlain, ever meant so well and failed so miserably as Carter. Wonderful man-- atrocious president. Only LBJ was worse as a potus-- and LBJ did not mean well, his intentions were worse than Nixon's.
Alan Brooks| 9.12.09 @ 12:03AM
Todd-lard:
how many millions did Carter's policies kill, '77-'80?
Anne Marie Erskine| 10.4.09 @ 11:57AM
Obama is a one-term failure for sure.
Once a genius, Twice a fool
and the American people are NOT fools...
Anne Marie Erskine| 10.4.09 @ 11:59AM
Well, Alan Brooks is one American fool...
Robb| 3.2.10 @ 10:53PM
G Tel-Aviv project's deputy marketing director says apartments sold for prices 25% higher than deals signed half a year ago ?
adfgasd| 4.1.10 @ 2:18AM
FLV to WMV Converter is the most professional software, which is able to convert flv to wmv and convert flv files to wmv. In addition, it is very versatile, for flv file converter wmv can also convert flv to AVI, MP3, MPEG, MP4, iPod, etc. Is it your best assitant
MOV to DVD Converter is a professional and multifunctional software which can not only help you to convert MOV files to DVD, but also can help you to edit the MOV files before converting, set the output parameters, and edit the DVD menu.