Michael Calderone of Politico reports that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman just spent time with President Barack Obama:Sure, Obama has courted the press, and met with a host of Times columnists – Dowd, Rich, Krugman , Brooks and Leonhardt, and likely more (I’m working from memory here) – but Tom Friedman just stepped to the front of the access line with today’s leisurely five-hour round of golf with the president.Also, Friedman's last book on environmental matters was on the leader's vacation reading list. He was seen with the same book a year ago during the campaign.
One of Friedman's common themes is Israel and the Middle East. One wonders if this was one of the topics he discussed with the president.
Friedman champions peace and the two-state solution. He also has been described as "a vigorous supporter of all of Israel's wars."
Lately, Friedman has been pushing the notion of West Bank economic development under "Fayyadism," Friedman's term for the administrative and technocratic governance of Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad. Toufic Haddad offered a strong critique of this "myth," as he calls it:
The reality is, after the Hamas victory, and especially after the movement kicked out the Fateh junta from Gaza, Western and Arab governments have poured billions of dollars into the West Bank in a desperate effort to prevent Hamas from rising to power there.Friedman has long been a status quo figure and his possible influence in the Obama administration does not support the idea of change in American foreign policy.
