Take his May 11 column, "Fathers and Sons." Friedman's basic theory on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is this: If the Israelis and Palestinians could only get past all this religious mumbo-jumbo, remove old leaders and accept one another, we could let globalization work its magic. Because Friedman thinks everything is about economics, he thinks peace can be achieved once Jewish settlements are abandoned and the Palestinians replace Yasser Arafat with another terror-supporting figurehead, Abu Mazen.
In this vein, Friedman argues that the best policy toward Israel is one of tough love; he writes that President George W. Bush should treat Israel as his father did by telling "Israel and Jewish lobby some very hard truths ... that expanding settlements would harm Israel's long-term interests, would shrink the prospects for peace and would help undermine America's standing in the Arab world." He calls the Jewish settler movement "renegade" and "lunatic" (epithets he reserves for Israelis, not suicide bombers) and claims the Christian right has hurt Israel by supporting it.
Friedman has learned nothing from the Oslo fiasco, because Thomas Friedman believes he is never wrong. In January 2001, Friedman briefly acknowledged that the Palestinian intifada left Oslo's advocates "feeling like fools." But now, Friedman has jumped on the Oslo II bandwagon. It does not matter to him that Abu Mazen was appointed by Arafat, not elected, and that 67.8 percent of Palestinians believe that Mazen was appointed only because of external pressure. It does not matter to him that Mazen has consistently and openly endorsed terror against Israelis as a continuing policy or that he was likely involved in the 1972 Munich Massacre. It does not matter to him that 64.6 percent of Palestinians support terror against Israeli targets or that 59.9 percent support suicide bombings. This is Thomas Friedman's world, and we're all just living in it.
Thomas Friedman is no doubt an intelligent man. Yet he is slobberingly sycophantic toward those who play up to him. He wholeheartedly believes that he is infallible. His vision is clouded by his own inflated view of himself. Thomas Friedman is a sucker, made to order.