Sunday, April 8, 2012

Shared experiences connect Romney and Netanyahu

Mercury News.com ^ | April 7, 2012 | Michael Barbaro
The two young men had woefully little in common: one was a wealthy Mormon from Michigan, the other a middle-class Jew from Israel.
 
But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group, where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other up during the firm's weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same profoundly analytical view of the world.
 
That shared experience decades ago led to a warm friendship, little known to outsiders, that is now rich with political intrigue: Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is making the case for military action against Iran; and Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, is attacking the Obama administration for not supporting Netanyahu more robustly.
The relationship between Netanyahu and Romney -- nurtured over meals in Boston, New York and Jerusalem; strengthened by a network of mutual friends; and heightened by their conservative ideologies -- has resulted in an unusually frank exchange of advice and insights on topics like politics, economics and the Middle East. Only a few weeks ago, on Super Tuesday, Netanyahu delivered a personal briefing by telephone to Romney about the situation in Iran.
"We can almost speak in shorthand," Romney said in an interview. "We share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar."
Romney has suggested that he would not make any significant policy decisions about Israel without consulting Netanyahu -- it appeals to the neoconservatives and evangelical Christians who are fiercely protective of Israel.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...

T-Shirt