We improve our Gene Pool by Marrying Women who are better than we are... Musing by Pres. Obama and PM Netanyahu

One more time I have to thank the transcripts editors at Daily Kos for the complete transcript on the joint press conference with President Obama and PM Netanyahu. Which included this gem:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Well, thank you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, for your kind words and for your wonderful welcome here today.  And I want to express a special thanks to Sara as well as your two sons for their warmth and hospitality.  It was wonderful to see them.  They are -- I did inform the Prime Minister that they are very good-looking young men who clearly got their looks from their mother.  (Laughter.)

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU:  Well, I can say the same of your daughters.  (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  This is true.  Our goal is to improve our gene pool by marrying women who are better than we are.

Being in one of those marriages (marrying out of my looks class), I can appreciate the sentiment that these men express here and I can appreciate the humor and good will that goes into these comments. 

On a more serious note, it seems like the discussions between the President and Mr. Netanyahu went well.

Some excerpts:

In the opening statements:

From Mr. Netanyahu:

Let me conclude, Mr. President, on a personal note.  I know how valuable the time and the energy is of the American President, of yourself.  This is the 10th time that we have met since you became President and since I became Prime Minister.  You’ve chosen Israel as your first venue in your visit, your foreign visit in your second term.  I want to thank you for the investment you have made in our relationship and in strengthening the friendship and alliance between our two countries.  It is deeply, deeply appreciated.

 From President Obama:

As Bibi mentioned, this is our 10th meeting.  We’ve spent more time together, working together, than I have with any leader.  And this speaks to the closeness of our two nations, the interests and the values that we share, and the depth and breadth of the ties between our two peoples.

As leaders, our most solemn responsibility is the security of our people -- that’s job number one.  My job as President of the United States, first and foremost, is to keep the American people safe.  Bibi, as Prime Minister, your first task is to keep the people of Israel safe.  And Israel’s security needs are truly unique, as I’ve seen myself.  In past trips I visited villages near the Blue Line.  I’ve walked through Israeli homes devastated by Hezbollah rockets.  I’ve stood in Sderot, and met with children who simply want to grow up free from fear.  And flying in today, I saw again how Israel’s security can be measured in mere miles and minutes.

As President, I’ve, therefore, made it clear America’s commitment to the security of the State of Israel is a solemn obligation, and the security of Israel is non-negotiable.

to that end the President made this announcement:

I’m also pleased to announce that we will take steps to ensure that there’s no interruption of funding for Iron Dome. As a result of decisions that I made last year, Israel will receive approximately $200 million this fiscal year and we will continue to work with Congress on future funding of Iron Dome.  These are further reminders that we will help to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge so that Israel can defend itself, by itself, against any threat.

So with the passage of the Senate Bill on spending today to blunt some of the most egregious aspects of the Republican sequester, I guess the President will be clearing the way for continued funding of Iron Dome. That is important given the instability and advances in the region by Iranian Hegemonistic forces.

On Egypt:

With Egypt going broke, the U.S. has some tough choices to make. It seems that it has made the call to continue to support the Egyptians democratic choice of government, the government of President Morsi, but has hinged aid (which Egypt desperately needs) on that government cutting off the flow of arms to Hamas and for it's adherence to the Peace Treaty with Israel. Egypt so far has done just that. Despite it's crazy rhetoric, it by and large has adhered to the agreements of the treaty and even just last week shut down tunnels going into Gaza. Oh and earlier this week the Egyptians just arrested Seven Palestinians who were stealing uniforms from Egypt to use to plan an attack.

And since the only alternative is to cut off the Egyptian funding which would then lead to Egypt seeking funds from Iran and it's allies, (imagine what the Egyptians would do in that case), the President in my view is doing the right thing here. Adhering to the Democratic wishes of it's neighbor AND ensuring the well being of it's allies.

As the President said:

We also reaffirmed the importance of ensuring Israel’s security given the changes and uncertainty in the region.  As the United States supports the Egyptian people in their historic transition to democracy, we continue to underscore the necessity of Egypt contributing to regional security, preventing Hamas from rearming and upholding its peace treaty with Israel.

 On Syria: 

The President spoke earnestly about Syria particularly in light of reports that there was a chemical weapons attack in Syria by Rebel Forces. He was asked what he planned to do about it, and said... (in short) that he wants to gather more information regarding what happened. A reasonable response as these reports are new. 

With respect to chemical weapons, we intend to investigate thoroughly exactly what happened.  Obviously, in Syria right now you've got a war zone.  You have information that's filtered out, but we have to make sure that we know exactly what happened -- what was the nature of the incident, what can we document, what can we prove.  So I've instructed my teams to work closely with all of the countries in the region and international organizations and institutions to find out precisely whether or not this red line was crossed.

I will note, without at this point having all the facts before me, that we know the Syrian government has the capacity to carry out chemical weapon attacks.  We know that there are those in the Syrian government who have expressed a willingness to use chemical weapons if necessary to protect themselves.  I am deeply skeptical of any claim that, in fact, it was the opposition that used chemical weapons.  Everybody who knows the facts of the chemical weapon stockpiles inside Syria as well as the Syrian government's capabilities I think would question those claims.  But I know that they're floating out there right now.

The broader point is, is that once we establish the facts I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game changer.  And I won't make an announcement today about next steps because I think we have to gather the facts.  But I do think that when you start seeing weapons that can cause potential devastation and mass casualties and you let that genie out of the bottle, then you are looking potentially at even more horrific scenes than we've already seen in Syria.  And the international community has to act on that additional information.

 On Iran and Security

Basically the President and the PM agreed here that Iran is about a year from developing a bomb.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU:  I think that there's a misunderstanding about time.  If Iran decides to go for a nuclear weapon -- that is, to actually manufacture the weapon -- then it probably -- then it would take them about a year.  I think that's correct.  They could defer that a long time but still get through the enrichment process -- that is, to make a weapon you need two things; you need enriched uranium of a critical amount and then you need a weapon.  You can't have the weapon without the enriched uranium, but you can have the enriched uranium without the weapon.

Iran right now is enriching uranium.  It’s pursuing it.  It hasn’t yet reached the red line that I had described in my speech at the U.N. -- they're getting closer, though.

And the question of manufacturing the weapon is a different thing.  The President said correctly that we have -- on these issues that are a little arcane, they sound a little detailed to you -- but on these matters we share information and we have a common assessment.  We have a common assessment.

In any case, Iran gets to an immunity zone when they get through the enrichment process, in our view -- in our view -- and whatever time is left, there's not a lot of time.  And every day that passes diminishes it.  But we do have a common assessment.  On the schedules, on intelligence, we share that intelligence and we don't have any argument about it.  I think it's important to state that clearly.

I think that people should get to know President Obama the way I've gotten to know.  And I think you've just heard something that is very meaningful.  It may have escaped you, but it hasn't escaped me.  And that is the President announced that in addition to all the aid that his administration has provided -- including Iron Dome, including defense funding for Israel during very difficult times -- he has announced that we are going to begin talks on another 10-year process arrangement to ensure American military assistance to Israel.  I think this is very significant.

 Please read this whole transcript it is very telling and very important.