Yesterday Obama spoke to 100 Jews in Cleveland. The Obama campaign released this transcript, now published in the NY Sun. A few key passages:
1. Strongly hinting that he is likely to shift U.S. policy and calling on the diversity of opinion in American Jewish ranks…
I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel. If we cannot have a honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we’re not going to make progress. And frankly some of the commentary that I’ve seen which suggests guilt by association or the notion that unless we are never ever going to ask any difficult questions about how we move peace forward or secure Israel that is non military or non belligerent or doesn’t talk about just crushing the opposition that that somehow is being soft or anti-Israel, I think we’re going to have problems moving forward. And that I think is something we have to have an honest dialogue about.
2. Having the standard enlightened person’s response, on his one trip to Israel, and then alluding indirectly to the Israel lobby:
one of the things that struck me when I went to Israel was how much more open the debate was around these issues in Israel than they are sometimes here in the United States. It’s very ironic. I sat down with the head of Israeli security forces and his view of the Palestinians was incredibly nuanced because he’s dealing with these people every day. There’s good and there’s bad, and he was willing to say sometimes we make mistakes and we made this miscalculation and if we are just pressing down on these folks constantly without giving them some prospects for hope, that’s not good for our security situation. There was a very honest, thoughtful debate taking place inside Israel. All of you, I’m sure, have experienced this when you travel there. Understandably, [here's the lobby part] because of the pressure that Israel is under, I think the U.S. pro-Israel community is sometimes a little more protective or concerned about opening up that conversation.
3. On the leakage of Jewish Democrats to the other side.
to the extent that there’s been bleeding over into the Republican Party, it all has to do with this issue of Israel. [But George Bush, Obama went on, has been bad for Israel...]
A few responses. Obama clearly has studied the progressive critique of Israel. You can tell because he’s fluid. He knows the issues here and he touches on all of them, but not with any of the emphases I would like. Still: he knows the stations of the leftwing cross. Point 3 is his response to the Liebermans of the world. Well he is not going to make the Liebermans happy and there is going to be more bleeding in the months to come.
I don’t think you can read Ali Abunimah’s piece on Obama, in which he says that Obama abandoned his pro-Palestinian talk after he lost a race for Congress in 2000–
Over the years since I first saw Obama speak I met him about half a dozen times, often at Palestinian and Arab-American community events in Chicago including a May 1998 community fundraiser at which Edward Said was the keynote speaker. In 2000, when Obama unsuccessfully ran for Congress I heard him speak at a campaign fundraiser hosted by a University of Chicago professor. On that occasion and others Obama was forthright in his criticism of US policy and his call for an even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
I don’t think you can read Michelle Obama’s 1985 thesis at Princeton assailing the goal of assimilation for black professionals… can’t read Michelle O’s statement about not being proud of her country till now… can’t read Obama’s statement on not wearing a flag pin in the time after 9/11…
without concluding that Obama is schooled completely in progressive values. He’s a leftist at heart, I better keep that secret.
Related posts:
{ 15 comments }
Well he is dancing around the issues of the pro Israel Jewish-American lobby instead of shouting it out full blast with a megaphone.
As a good politician should – goes with the job (some recent examples of American politicians notwithstanding…)
I think Obama is experiencing a combination of phenomena.
1. He is open to dialog and presentation of credible alternative perspectives.
2. He has more respect and sympathy for the dilemmas of Israeli leaders in dealing with terrorism, than just the ideological formulation.
I like it. He is different than Bush, is different than Clinton, but he is also different than Abunimah.
Phil said:
———————
Obama is schooled completely in progressive values. He's a leftist at heart, I better keep that secret.
———————
You are right, you had better keep it a secret, since most American voters are not "progressive" in the sense that you mean it. However, it will get out, McCain's people will see to it. That is why he will lose against McCain.
BTW-Why is refusing to identify with your country when it is under attack, and thousands of its citizens butchered considered to be "progressive"?
By the way, why is "just pressing down on these folks constantly without giving them some prospects for hope" [Obama's words], and evaluating the results in the cold-blooded terms of "that's not good for our security situation" [ditto], acceptable for any country or religion?
bar_kochba132, I understand what you are saying. But the two most important issues
for the U.S are the Israel Palastine issue and getting control of nukes in the former soviet union. Obama just got my vote.
//Obama clearly has studied the progressive critique of Israel//
And Hillary hasn't. Or if she has, she's unwilling to air it. And she wonders why she's getting her ass kicked by this guy?
Tonylee:
What is Obama's policy about getting control of the nuclear weapons of the former USSR and how is it different than that of other candidates? I thought that the Ukraine, for example, turned to the US years ago to deal with dismantling their arsenal. I also know Khazakstan, which also has good relations with the US, also had weapons and although I can't recall what they did with them, I assume the US also had a hand in it. For that matter, I understand the US has helped Pakistan increase security of its nukes, which I think most people believe is a greater problem that those of the former USSR.
Honest dialogue regarding Israel???
Time to pour yourself another Jack Daniels, Phil.
i can top michelle obama. i havent been proud of this country since Nixon & Wallace in '68. that's 40 of my 50 years on the planet. i think she's being generous. it's time for a progressive vision for this country. i think people are starved for it. Wall St Republicans and Democrats have devoured the recent past.
I had mixed feelings about this. Phil quotes the more positive aspects of it. On the negative side, Obama says he supported Israel's war in 2006.
Which is defensible, up to a point, but the problem was that Israel killed hundreds of civilians with its indiscriminate bombing and whether or not one thinks they had a right to go to war, their actual conduct of the war was as criminal as Hezbollah's firing of rockets (and deadlier, but the point is that both sides were guilty of war crimes.) Obama isn't going to be an honest broker if he can't bring himself to criticize Israel in cases like that. He'll have to be more forthright in office and I have no reason to think he will be. Many Americans are willing to pay lip service to the notion of balance on this subject.
Hillary is a committed member of the United Methodist Church as well as former first lady. She went to Palestine, she met Suha Arafat. The UMC has been working on the Palestinian question for years. If she is not familiar with the progressive point of view on Palestine then she willfully closed her eyes to it.
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=3453
A UMC statement from 1996.
I am quite certain that in preparation for her trips in the 90s she read material that could be called progressive on Palestine.
That's why I am so particularly disgusted with her 180 degree about-face on Palestine when she ran for Senate. She knows better but it doesn't matter, she wanted the Likud vote from NYC. I think the sea change Mr. Weiss observes will swamp her on this issue, if not in this election then very, very soon.
PS I am not myself officially a Methodist but I was baptized one, and my mother, who is active in the Palestinian rights movement, attends a Methodist church with my small sons. I am proud of the church's courage on the topic of Israel/Palestine, and not sorry for my familial connection to the Methodists.
I also prefer Obama's perspective on Israel to Clinton's.
I don't know if Obama will do anything, about anything. He really is unknown.
And, who knows if Israel/Palestine will be the first effort he tackles. Unlikely, as its a quagmire and he would want to accomplish something rather than get bogged down.
But, I hope that he helps the process, more than Bush's leisurely incompetence. How much does he work in a day? 4 hours?
I agree. Bush never grew beyond the maturity of a frat rat.
I also agree with Leila's comment about Hillary.
Comments on this entry are closed.