[Ma'an] President Barack Obama
How's it going, Sunshine? ...
will sign a bill to strengthen US-Israeli military cooperation on Friday on the eve of a visit to Israel by his Republican presidential challenger, Willard Mitt Romney
...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O...
Obama will seek to stress his commitment to Israel's security for American Jewish voters at a White House ceremony that appeared timed to upstage Romney, who has accused the president of undermining US-Israeli ties.
Congress passed the legislation, the US-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, with broad support from Obama's Democrats and Republicans last week.
| Most Americans like Israel, and the smart politicians know it. |
"The bill deepens our security cooperation with Israel by expanding our military assistance and providing Israel with access to additional equipment," White House front man Tommy Vietor said Thursday.
Obama, criticized by some of Israel's US supporters for being too tough on a close ally, wants to shore up his support among Jewish voters, who could prove critical in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania in the Nov. 6 election.
Obama received 78 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election, but a nationwide Gallup poll in June showed him down to 64 percent backing versus Romney's 29 percent.
Romney hopes his trip to Israel will resonate with Jewish voters at home. He will arrive there from London on Saturday and plans to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a strained relationship with Obama.
Obama angered many Israelis and their US supporters last year when he insisted any negotiations on the borders of a future Paleostinian state begin on the basis of lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gazoo Strip in a 1967 war.
Obama visited Israel as a candidate in the 2008 campaign but has not done so as president. He has insisted security ties with Israel have never been stronger, though he has pressed Netanyahu to hold off on any attack on Iran's nuclear sites to give diplomacy and sanctions more time to work.
| There's a wonderful photo at the link of the two national leaders sitting together with the exact same expression of strongly suppressed dislike on their faces. |
Romney has accused Obama of being too hard on Israel and not strong enough with Iran.
| It was that pressure in Israel to leave Iran in peace that gave it away, I suspect. |
The new bill calls for enhanced cooperation with Israel - the staunchest US ally in the Middle East and a major beneficiary of military aid - on missile defense and intelligence, and increased access to advanced weapons.
| And it was a bipartisan Congressional initiative, not a presidential one. That's another clue. |
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