WHAT?

The decision of the US not to attend the Durban Conference on Racism seems strangely at odds with the Obama Administration's new openness to the world and, at the same time, will only increase the impression of the world that Israel drives our foreign policy, not ourselves. The African Amercian community will certainly have a hard time understanding this decision.

Of course, we have not seen the language of the document to be submitted to the conference for approval. The Obama Administration says that the one to be submitted is improved from the original. The explanation given by the administration does not seem to justify such a stark departure from the rather persistent and, up until now, consistent stance of openness to all conversation, meetings, encounters, dialogues. We can talk with Iran, but we cannot go to a UN sponsored conference on Racism.

In fact, it does beg the question. Is our foreign policy driven by Israel and not by ourselves?