Bachmann On Israel

Michele Bachmann posted this YouTube video stating her support for Israel ten days ago, but not many people seem to have noticed it until today. Pamela Geller calls it “The greatest speech by an American leader on Israel.” Please watch the video, and then I have two comments about it:

First, Bachmann has been consistent in her support for Israel. In December 2006, immediately after her election to Congress, Scott and I attended a meeting of the Twin Cities chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition at which she spoke. She made the same points that she does in the video, and told in more detail the story about working on a kibbutz after she graduated from high school. In that speech, she described how she and others would leave before dawn to work in a field, and had to be accompanied by armed men lest they be attacked by terrorists. To say that she got a warm reception from the RJC group would be an understatement.
Second, early on Bachmann was seen by many as a sort of Sarah Palin Lite. I think this speech illustrates why that characterization underestimates her. Not that the two disagree on support for Israel; they don’t. But Michele does not suffer from the frequent bouts of inarticulateness that plague Palin, and at her best she projects a strength and clarity that few can match.