People from the Mid-East sent me an email when I was on my way from San Francisco this morning saying that
it was going to come soon, and I have confidence in them. The bottom line is that the Israelis want peace, the Palestinians
want peace, the Lebanese want peace, the Syrians want peace and if we just give them a chance, I think they’ll find
it.
We’ve
got a great President now who will start working on the Mid-East peace process. The first day in office, in fact, on the day
of inauguration [President Obama] called the leaders in the Middle East to tell them that the United States was deeply involved
and will stay engaged until they reach success.
He’s made the best appointment
as a peace envoy that he can find in the United States of America, former Senator George Mitchell, as you know. Mitchell performed
a miracle when he brought peace to Ireland; even included IRA, Sinn Féin. He brought them into the process and now
they’re part of the government. He’s sure to take a balanced and equal position over there which is necessary
for peace. He also happens to be a close personal friend of mine; in fact, I helped him with his political career. He was
a practicing attorney in Maine. When I became President, I appointed him U.S. Attorney and then later I promoted him to U.S.
District Judge. And then later, I appointed a Senior Senator from Maine Edmund Muskie (1980-1981), my Secretary of State,
opening up the seat for George Mitchell, so my and his histories have been tied together.
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By
the way, the first copy of this book was delivered to Barack Obama. The night before we had the five Presidents together (January
7th, 2009), Rose and I met for a long time with him in his hotel suite and I gave him the first copy of this.
When
George Mitchell was chosen, the first thing he did was to ask me to Federal Express him a copy so he can read it before he
went to the Mid-East. So, I can say that I’m having a big influence, they’ll have to listen to what I say and
I hope that you enjoy reading the book and join with me in promoting peace in the Holy Land.
I have to confess, although voting is supposed to be secret, in the Primary and in the general election,
Obama got 26 votes in my family. It was from Me, Rosalynn, our children, our grandchildren and their spouses. Twenty six votes,
and all the other candidates put together got zero votes.
