Haaretz: Jerusalem hoped Obama fails to pass health care reform

Akiva Eldar revels in Haaretz that Benjamin Netanyahu’s people and possibly even the PM himself were following up close the battle over the health care plan in the senate last week (my Italic):

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no stranger to internal political wrangling in the United States and how that relates to America’s international standing.

An American president who fails in the domestic arena will find it difficult to garner support in Congress and the court of public opinion for important issues abroad.

Health care reform was a kind of entrance exam for Obama before tackling the Mideast. Netanyahu and his aides did not conceal their hope that Obama would slip up and lose prestige at home and abroad.

They assumed that a stinging defeat in this important area would tie Obama’s hands and force him to spend more time shoring up his position and the strength of his party.

Akiva Eldar – who is known for his good connections in the American embassy, not in the PM office – does not reveal his source for this item, which was published on the news section of the paper, and not as commentary piece. Personally, I don’t think someone in the PM office would be foolish enough to go public against the White House on what is a strictly domestic issue, but given the known hostility of Netanyahu’s people to the new administration, I agree that they wouldn’t have been too sad had the president suffered a blow on this one.