Obama Finds Advice Can Carry a Price

Barack Obama may get foreign policy credit for traveling with Zbigniew Brzezinski, but having the Carter-era hand to hold won’t help with Israel boosters. The former national security adviser’s in the doghouse after defending the authors of an article that claimed the “Israel Lobby” has outsize influence in the US, Politico’s Ben Smith notes. And Obama’s now parsing his support closely.

Smith writes that Obama has taken a hard line in his support for the Jewish state, but puts himself at risk by appearing with Brzezinski, who this summer defended "The Israel Lobby"—a book Harvard law professor (and Clinton supporter) Alan Dershowitz called "bigoted." One Obama supporter calls the Brzezinski flap " a fabricated controversy for political reasons." (More Barack Obama stories.)