Amb. Dennis Ross (Ret.) On the differences Between How President Obama & Bush Make Decisions

“In the first term you had much more diversity around the president so there were much more active debates around him. It’s not just that he would read but President Obama actually took advantage of those debates. In the second term, you had much less diversity around him. You have what I would say is more of an echo chamber around him.”

—-Ambassador Dennis Ross explaining the differences on how President Obama makes decisions in his two terms as president.

Former special assistant to President Obama & special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton & author of the new book, “Doomed To Succeed, The Us-Israeli Relations From Truman To Obama” Ambassador Dennis Ross (Ret.), joined Kilmeade & Friends to discuss the latest on the violence in Israel, the strained relationship between Israel and America and the differences between how President Obama makes decisions in his first and second terms.

Listen here:

Do President Obama & Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu dislike each other?

“I’ll put it this way, they don’t have a lot of mutual trust, let’s put it that way. Number two, they really have different world views. The Prime Minister looks at what’s happening in the Middle East one way and particularly Iran, one way. The president I think, it’s not that he doesn’t see Iran as a threat in the region but I think he believes that you could, with the nuclear deal, he might be able to create a game changer in the region. In effect, he is sort hoping for at some point this deal with change Iran’s behavior, even on the inside, because it will empower more pragmatic forces. Prime Minister Netanyahu says this is a game changer alright but it’s a game changer that empowers the Iranians to be even more of a threat in the region.”

Former CIA director, General Michael Hayden explaining the differences between how President Bush & Obama absorb information, saying Obama “absorbed information by reading and reflecting” President Bush “absorbed information in the dialog”

Ambassador Dennis Ross General Haydens comments and the difference between how Presidents Obama absorbs information and makes decisions in his 1st term vs his 2nd term.

“I would say his description is pretty apt. its not that you couldn’t engage with President Obama, President Obama likes to read things….In the first term you had much more diversity around the president so there were much more active debates around him. It’s not just that he would read but President Obama actually took advantage of those debates. In the second term, you had much less diversity around him. You have what I would say is more of an echo chamber around him. And so, I think a lot of what we are seeing in terms of the differences reflect, what I would say is a first term where he had a team of rivals versus a second term where you really don’t have that.”