At the Washington Post, Charles Lane asks why Barack Obama hasn’t said a single word about the withdrawal of Charles Freeman: A Parting Shot That Maligns Obama, Too.

Freeman himself wrote that the affair “will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide, what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.”

So far, however, President Obama has had exactly nothing to say about this extraordinary claim — either in his own defense, or in defense of the American citizens whom Freeman has impugned.

I believe Obama is hoping this will all blow over without the need for him to address it, because the next question is the one he really doesn’t want to answer:

I imagine that he finds Freeman’s comments repugnant, but to say so publicly would raise questions about why the man was appointed in the first place.

Indeed.