Netanyahu Makes Case, White House Very Irritated

Israeli PM Netanyahu

President Obama, Secretary Kerry and NSC Advisor Rice all dedicated substantial time criticizing Prime Minister Netanyahu for his speech before Congress. In fact, while trying to anticipate and reduce the effectiveness of Netanyahu’s arguments, the White House increased the audience and drama.

The impact of the speech will be played out the next several weeks, but Netanyahu commanded the House and received a series of thunderous ovation.

Going into the speech, Netanyahu had a 45 percent favorability rating, with 24 percent unfavorable. The nearly 2-to-1 positive rating reflects an increase in his favorability from 35 percent in 2012. Hence, conflict with the White House the last few years hasn’t hurt. In fact, Netanyahu’s favorability with Democrats is up since 2012 by 6 points, and among Republicans, up 10 points.