Obama, Netanyahu on same page

raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the assembled United Nations recently.

Among the topics both brought to the table was the global concern about Iran’s questionable enrichment of uranium.

The level of agreement between their speeches was a much-needed reminder to the world that, despite their differences, the U.S. and Israel are essentially still on the same page with respect to Iran.

The cavalier attitude of Netanyahu toward military action by his country, however, was worrisome.

In the past, Obama has been criticized by his opponents for what they see as reluctance to take a strong stance with a committed military against the Iranians.

In his speech to the U.N., Obama avoided breaking this trend. He agreed with his opponents that a nuclear-armed Iran was not something this country would accept.

Yet he advocated for methods of diplomacy, saying there was “still time and space” for these tactics to be effective.

One of the principle arguments against Obama’s strategy has been that his indecision would force unilateral military action by the Israeli government.

But in this case, Netanyahu’s comments seemed to be relatively in step with the president’s.

The time frame he laid out for a military strike against Iran extended further into the future than most people expected.

Netanyahu requested that the U.N. take military action six to nine months in the future. Most importantly, this deadline is after the U.S. presidential election.

Faced with a clear and determined ultimatum, Netanyahu argued that Iran would soon change its tune.

To illustrate his point, Netanyahu drew a large red line across the top of a cartoon-style poster print of a bomb.

The U.N. is a collection of highly educated men and women well-versed in the workings of a military conflict. Does Netanyahu really think that a cartoon bomb poster is necessary to push his point to this assembly?

Furthermore, it’s a bit discouraging that a man who controls a stock of nuclear weapons would use a presentational tool inspired by Wily Coyote.

If the gravity of this situation is not lost on Netanyahu, the visual aspect of his presentation to the U.N. certainly didn’t make that fact abundantly clear.

In any case, politics is frequently about saying the same thing in ways that appeal to different groups of people.

In this case, Netanyahu and Obama said essentially the same thing, but they said it in ways that served both of their purposes politically.

This should be heartening to peaceful people everywhere.

Contrary to what his critics would have us believe, Obama’s strategy for dealing with Iran is clearly much more in concert with Israel’s than it might appear on its face.