Barry to Bibi: if you don't say "uncle," you don't get to say "cheese"

By Harold Witkov

A behind closed doors wrestling match at the White House between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu recently concluded. President Obama tried to get Prime Minister Netanyahu to cancel housing construction plans in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem (and throw in the towel with other concessions as well). No doubt, President Obama used every arm-twisting maneuver in the book he could think of but he could not get the Prime Minister of Israel to say "uncle."

So what does the President of the United States do when he cannot get the Prime Minister of Israel to say, "uncle"? He refuses him a "say cheese" photo op.

Remember the photo of President Obama with his feet up on his desk talking on the phone with Netanyahu. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a non-picture worth?

© Harold Witkov