Tom Friedman's Got Some Studying to Do

For some reason, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Tom Friedman agreed to appear on this program today, even though Imus has been blasting him since his last appearance for admitting he had no knowledge of the many abuses occurring in this country’s food supply. But first, Israel, a topic with which Friedman is very familiar.

Calling the Israeli navy’s raid on a flotilla of Turkish ships carrying humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip “a tragedy,” Friedman outlined the events that led up to Israel’s recent action.

First, he pointed to the insecurities of Turkey, which was recently rebuffed from inclusion into the European Union and is now, according to Friedman, trying to become a leader in the Arab World. Second, Israel, along with Egypt, has been partially blockading supplies from the Gaza Strip for a reason: to force Hamas, the party in charge there, to fail.

“Hamas’s failed leadership will contrast, Israel hopes, with a much more powerful Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,” said Friedman.

Lastly, he highlighted the work of these so-called “humanitarian” peace activists, who are so eager to demonstrate against Israel’s wrongdoings and yet continue to ignore the suppression of democracy in Iran and genocide in the Sudan.

“They’re basically looking for a confrontation,” Friedman said of the humanitarian workers, whom he called “deeply anti-Israel in many ways.” In his opinion, Israel’s reaction to this provocation was stupid, ill-conceived, and gave these people exactly what they were looking for: a fight.

In his most recent column on Sunday, Friedman insisted the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico was not President Obama’s fault. “Here’s the good news there,” said Imus. “You didn’t say it was President Bush’s.”

Friedman’s point had been to stress that the crack in the oil well at the bottom of the ocean is BP’s responsibility to fix, and that, despite criticism over his handling this disaster, Obama’s role is to shape a long-term strategy to end the U.S.’s addiction to oil.

“That’s the thing that’s in Obama’s power, clearly in his power, and only in his power,” said Friedman. “My criticism of him is that he’s not doing that.”

He agreed with Imus that Obama could learn a few things from Bill Clinton, who ran to the scene of every tragefy to comfort those who had been hurt. “He’s got to give voice to and define this incredible disaster,” said Friedman. “But at the same time, that voice will not have any meaning if it’s not attached to really concrete policy.”

With so many tensions swirling on various fronts—Israel, the oil spill, problems in Korea—Friedman worries, like Imus, that the planet is hanging on by a thread. “You just feel these days like you’re walking on eggshells,” he observed.

Despite his guest’s keen observations on so many wide-ranging issues, Imus was compelled to remind Friedman that he had admitted ignorance on the issue of CAFOs, and how they foul the environment and cause cancer.

All Friedman could do was promise to study up for next time as he begged, “Please don’t beat me like a baby seal!”

It wasn’t pretty.

-Julie Kanfer