[in an Obama administration, what's good for Israel will continue to trump what's good for America. business as usual, in other words.]
Obama Works A Tough Room at AIPAC
Two days after John McCain paraded his tough-guy image in front of 7,000 supporters at the annual meeting of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Barack Obama delivered his own version of the Israeli national anthem this morning. For Obama, the AIPAC conference seemed like a tough room to work. But, by all indications, he wowed 'em.
He started out by citing "provocative e-mails" circulating in the Jewish community. (He didn't provide details, but people in the AIPAC audience did, when I asked: that Obama is captive of Palestinian ideology, that Obama is a secret Muslim, and so on.) "Let me know if you see this guy Barack Obama," said Barack Obama, "because he sounds like a scary guy."
Virtually every speech ever delivered to an AIPAC conference, going back 54 years to the first AIPAC conclave, is a litany of pro-Israeli shibboleths. Obama didn't disappoint. He learned about the Holocaust from a camp counselor at age 11, he said, and his great-uncle helped to liberate Buchenwald. Check. "As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israeli security." Check. He advocates strengthening US-Israeli military ties, and wants to sign a memorandum of understanding to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid over the next ten years to "ensure Israel's qualitative military advantage." Check. No negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah. Check. And while he will talk to Iran, it will be "tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing--if, and only if--it can advance the interests of the United States." Check. And just in case AIPAC thinks that he won't act, Obama added: "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table."
In case anyone missed the point, Obama added: "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." He repeated that sentence twice, for emphasis. And for additional emphasis, he said again: "Everything."
Before the speech I wandered around, speaking to a couple of dozen AIPAC attendees. What I heard was uncertainty, nervousness, anxiety--and almost none of it was based on Obama's actual views. It was just, you know, a feeling. "I don't trust him," said Menachem, from Illinois. "I don't go according to what people say. I am using my intuition." Said Alan, "We went to lobby him last year, and he seemed, well, I don't know. It's his body language." Many AIPAC'ers said Obama would talk to terrorists. Diba, from California, said: "I don't think Obama has taken a strong stand for Israel. He is saying all the right things, but I don't think that he means it."
After the speech, it was a different story. "Did he make the sale? Oh, absolutely!" said Abe. "He addressed the rumors. He spoke from the heart. For me, he settled it," Lisa, from Michigan,said. Said Jay, from Washington, "Obama had to describe himself for this crowd. And I think he came across well. People were listening very carefully, and I think they believed him." A young man from Los Angeles, still undecided between Obama and McCain, said: "He really made me think. He surprised me. He made the point that Israel is weaker and less safe after eight years of the Bush Administration's policies."
That latter point was central to Obama's address at AIPAC, which was interrupted numerous times by standing ovations, cheers and thunderous applause. Obama blasted McCain for his fealty to the "failure" of Bush's bull-in-a-falafel-shop approach to the Middle East, which, he said, (1) allowed Hamas to take power in the occupied territories, (2) allowed Hezbollah to make major gains in Lebanon, (3) strengthened Iran's power in the region, (4) turned Iraq into an unstable state, and (5) isolated the United States from its friends and allies in the region, especially among the Arabs. By proposing a "responsible, phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq" ("we will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in") and by offering incentives to Iran if they abandon their nuclear program, Obama said that he will make Israel safer and more secure.
If you were listening for Obama to say anything about the suffering of the Palestinian people, well, that will be in a different speech.
Obama, of course, pledged that he will work for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine speech. In a slap at the White House, which launched a half-hearted, way-too-late peace effort at the end of 2007, Obama added: "And I won't wait until the waning days of my presidency."
The meeting at AIPAC, largest in its history, is a grand affair, filling a cavernous hall at the Washington Convention Center, with fully a dozen wall-sized monitors set up to display speakers' images. Everyone who's anyone spoke: Obama, McCain, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Condi Rice, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and--hmm, someone else, someone else--oh, right: Hillary Clinton. Clinton rushed through her speech, tromping on her own applause lines, as if she couldn't wait to get out of there. (No, she didn't concede this morning, either. But she did say: "I know Senator Obama understands what it is at stake here. ... I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.")
McCain, speaking on Monday morning, didn't break any new ground. He attacked Obama for not supporting the Senate resolution introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyl that would have designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. "Over three-quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama," said McCain. He criticized Obama for wanting to try something as radical as diplomacy. And of course he warned that there would be a "catastrophe, ... all-out civil war, genocide, and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East" if America does what Obama proposes, and leaves Iraq. That, he said, would embolden Iran.
Obama wasn't letting McCain get away with that one. "He [McCain] criticizes my willingness to use strong diplomacy, but offers only an alternate reality--one where the war in Iraq has somehow put Iran on its heels," said Obama. "The truth is the opposite. Iran has strengthened its position."
An AIPAC meeting, of course, is hardly the place to look for enlightened speech about the Middle East, and there was precious little of it to be found anywhere on the speakers' rostrum this week. But Barack Obama, who entered the lion's den an unknown quantity, won more than a few converts.
For me, the highlight of Obama's speech came at the end, when he spoke movingly, and passionately, about the alliance of Jews and African-Americans who led the civil rights movement in the '50s and '60s.
In the great social movements in our country's history, Jewish and African Americans have stood shoulder to shoulder. They took buses down south together. They marched together. They bled together. And Jewish Americans like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were willing to die alongside a black man--James Chaney--on behalf of freedom and equality.
Their legacy is our inheritance. We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer. This is a bond that must be strengthened. Together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred in all of its forms. Together, we can renew our commitment to justice. Together, we can join our voices together, and in doing so make even the mightiest of walls fall down.
He said that in a rising crescendo, during a standing ovation, that went on and on. It was a powerful moment.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/326710
Obama Works A Tough Room at AIPAC
Two days after John McCain paraded his tough-guy image in front of 7,000 supporters at the annual meeting of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Barack Obama delivered his own version of the Israeli national anthem this morning. For Obama, the AIPAC conference seemed like a tough room to work. But, by all indications, he wowed 'em.
He started out by citing "provocative e-mails" circulating in the Jewish community. (He didn't provide details, but people in the AIPAC audience did, when I asked: that Obama is captive of Palestinian ideology, that Obama is a secret Muslim, and so on.) "Let me know if you see this guy Barack Obama," said Barack Obama, "because he sounds like a scary guy."
Virtually every speech ever delivered to an AIPAC conference, going back 54 years to the first AIPAC conclave, is a litany of pro-Israeli shibboleths. Obama didn't disappoint. He learned about the Holocaust from a camp counselor at age 11, he said, and his great-uncle helped to liberate Buchenwald. Check. "As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israeli security." Check. He advocates strengthening US-Israeli military ties, and wants to sign a memorandum of understanding to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid over the next ten years to "ensure Israel's qualitative military advantage." Check. No negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah. Check. And while he will talk to Iran, it will be "tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing--if, and only if--it can advance the interests of the United States." Check. And just in case AIPAC thinks that he won't act, Obama added: "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table."
In case anyone missed the point, Obama added: "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." He repeated that sentence twice, for emphasis. And for additional emphasis, he said again: "Everything."
Before the speech I wandered around, speaking to a couple of dozen AIPAC attendees. What I heard was uncertainty, nervousness, anxiety--and almost none of it was based on Obama's actual views. It was just, you know, a feeling. "I don't trust him," said Menachem, from Illinois. "I don't go according to what people say. I am using my intuition." Said Alan, "We went to lobby him last year, and he seemed, well, I don't know. It's his body language." Many AIPAC'ers said Obama would talk to terrorists. Diba, from California, said: "I don't think Obama has taken a strong stand for Israel. He is saying all the right things, but I don't think that he means it."
After the speech, it was a different story. "Did he make the sale? Oh, absolutely!" said Abe. "He addressed the rumors. He spoke from the heart. For me, he settled it," Lisa, from Michigan,said. Said Jay, from Washington, "Obama had to describe himself for this crowd. And I think he came across well. People were listening very carefully, and I think they believed him." A young man from Los Angeles, still undecided between Obama and McCain, said: "He really made me think. He surprised me. He made the point that Israel is weaker and less safe after eight years of the Bush Administration's policies."
That latter point was central to Obama's address at AIPAC, which was interrupted numerous times by standing ovations, cheers and thunderous applause. Obama blasted McCain for his fealty to the "failure" of Bush's bull-in-a-falafel-shop approach to the Middle East, which, he said, (1) allowed Hamas to take power in the occupied territories, (2) allowed Hezbollah to make major gains in Lebanon, (3) strengthened Iran's power in the region, (4) turned Iraq into an unstable state, and (5) isolated the United States from its friends and allies in the region, especially among the Arabs. By proposing a "responsible, phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq" ("we will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in") and by offering incentives to Iran if they abandon their nuclear program, Obama said that he will make Israel safer and more secure.
If you were listening for Obama to say anything about the suffering of the Palestinian people, well, that will be in a different speech.
Obama, of course, pledged that he will work for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine speech. In a slap at the White House, which launched a half-hearted, way-too-late peace effort at the end of 2007, Obama added: "And I won't wait until the waning days of my presidency."
The meeting at AIPAC, largest in its history, is a grand affair, filling a cavernous hall at the Washington Convention Center, with fully a dozen wall-sized monitors set up to display speakers' images. Everyone who's anyone spoke: Obama, McCain, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Condi Rice, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and--hmm, someone else, someone else--oh, right: Hillary Clinton. Clinton rushed through her speech, tromping on her own applause lines, as if she couldn't wait to get out of there. (No, she didn't concede this morning, either. But she did say: "I know Senator Obama understands what it is at stake here. ... I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.")
McCain, speaking on Monday morning, didn't break any new ground. He attacked Obama for not supporting the Senate resolution introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyl that would have designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. "Over three-quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama," said McCain. He criticized Obama for wanting to try something as radical as diplomacy. And of course he warned that there would be a "catastrophe, ... all-out civil war, genocide, and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East" if America does what Obama proposes, and leaves Iraq. That, he said, would embolden Iran.
Obama wasn't letting McCain get away with that one. "He [McCain] criticizes my willingness to use strong diplomacy, but offers only an alternate reality--one where the war in Iraq has somehow put Iran on its heels," said Obama. "The truth is the opposite. Iran has strengthened its position."
An AIPAC meeting, of course, is hardly the place to look for enlightened speech about the Middle East, and there was precious little of it to be found anywhere on the speakers' rostrum this week. But Barack Obama, who entered the lion's den an unknown quantity, won more than a few converts.
For me, the highlight of Obama's speech came at the end, when he spoke movingly, and passionately, about the alliance of Jews and African-Americans who led the civil rights movement in the '50s and '60s.
In the great social movements in our country's history, Jewish and African Americans have stood shoulder to shoulder. They took buses down south together. They marched together. They bled together. And Jewish Americans like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were willing to die alongside a black man--James Chaney--on behalf of freedom and equality.
Their legacy is our inheritance. We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer. This is a bond that must be strengthened. Together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred in all of its forms. Together, we can renew our commitment to justice. Together, we can join our voices together, and in doing so make even the mightiest of walls fall down.
He said that in a rising crescendo, during a standing ovation, that went on and on. It was a powerful moment.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/326710
