PrintAugust 24, 2008
Obama and Jews
The Chicago Jewish News runs a lengthy article about Barack Obama and Jews: those who support him, those who oppose him, and the role that Jews have played in his rise. Prominently figuring among the people mentioned as critics are American Thinker and a few of our our contributors who have written about Obama and Israel. In fact, AT is identified as
an online conservative magazine that Jewish Telegraphic Agency political correspondent Ron Kampeas calls "the principle redoubt of Obama-Israel skepticism."
Contributors Joel Sprayragen and Richard Baehr are interviewees, while Ed Lasky is cited.
The article features many friends of Obama citing his brilliance. Perhaps the silliest comments come from Rabbi Wolf:
The rabbi's own feeling is that Obama is "sort of Jewish in a way. His overachieving is Jewish, his intellectualism is Jewish, even his charisma has a Jewish side. Maybe I feel it more strongly than others do, but I feel like he's one of us."I like McCain too, but he ain't one of us," he added.
Oddly enough, the article spends a considerable amount of attention on the anonymous emails said to have circulated accusing Obama of being a Muslim and attending a madrassa. These charges were never made by anyone interviewed or cited in the article, and nobody has paid any attention to them for over half a year, other than Obama partisans who want to discredit any criticism of Obama.
The fact that this controversy is now going into its ninth month despite manifold efforts by the Obama campaign to deny, obfuscate, confuse, elide, engage in word play, muddy the waters, send out its emissaries and supporters to shill (though you may use a more diplomatic word) shows that the issue resonates with supporters of the American-Israel relationship which include millions of Christians)-and that there are justifiable and reasonable reasons to be concerned.
The Obama campaign may engage in shell games with its foreign policy advisers and make feints towards appeasing these concerns (and hide a long history of Barack Obama's friendship with anti-Israel advocates and activist) but -despite all the obloquy and insults leveled against those who scrutinize his record-the problem persists. He doesn't remove from his campaign people who have made problematic statements about Jews (not just Israel or Israelis)-"Tony" McPeak, for example. Samantha ("what is good for the Jews" complainer) only "resigned" because she impugned Hillary Clitnon not slurred American Jews.
Tomorrow, our chief political correspondent Richard Baehr will speak on an official panel at the Democratic National Convention on the Jewish vote, from 2 to 4 PM Mountain Time. Still no word on whether it will be broadcast on any cable channels.
