Phil, you are deluding yourself if you really think President Obama changes anything with regard to Israel or American policy in the MidEast.

even more beautifyl, the number of jews NOT willing to die alongside black men (and white men) in iraq while the black men and white men were dying for the jews of israel.

can any jew at this aipac war party name one black man who has died in iraq for their sins: past, current, and future.

I think Obama got it right, and you got it wrong, Phil.

Obama is not lying to AIPAC. He's not changing his message. Its been consistent for years, and is the right answer.

The appeal of the invocation to Shwerner and Goodwin is to the idealism in the Jewish community, the sense of pride resulting from committing to do good.

The VAST majority of Jews supported the civil rights movement, led by articulate and kind activists.

The borderline anti-semitic comments of Malcolm and black nationalists (even some of the Panthers), strained the native sympathy for black emancipation.

That sympathy is similarly native and expressed for Palestinians that do NOT adopt terror as chosen means, and do not express anti-semitic comment, including the invocation of assertive anti-Zionism ("Zionism is racism").

One point I wanted to make– I don't care for Pat Buchanan's ideas on domestic policy, but I am reading his book about WWI and WWII right now, entitled, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War. What he shows and I am persuaded by it is that countries get in a lot of trouble when they get confused about the nature of their own vital interests. Here are some examples: at the beginning of WWI, Britain tied itself so completely to Belgium's welfare, that, when the Germans invaded, the British had no ability to act independently. Similarly, during the interwar period, Britain had a very strong alliance with Japan, which protected Britain's colonies in East Asia, but at the beginning of the 1930's it was willing to abandon this mutually beneficial alliance for an very ill-defined agreement with a very undependable USA, on the basis that all English-speaking countries would look out for one another.

In all such cases, Britain replaced real-politik (defining and pursuing one's vital interests) with mythology, ideology, and outmoded concepts like honor.

It is obvious in reading this account, that Buchanan is joining the Mearsheimer and Walt approach in drawing an analogy to the the US gov't's devotion to its ally, Israel, in spite of US vital interests that point in exactly the opposite direction. Interesting that some of the most interesting work on this subject comes from the paleoconservative right.

– aha! I had almost forgotten about Rev. Pfleger!

I don't think things will change in this country through presidential politics as long as the US retains its current place as "imperial overlord" of the world. It's place on the international stage is going to have to be threatened much more than it is right now by Al Queda. It is going to involve China or India or Russia. In the case of WWII, the British gov't finally did figure out its vital interests, but by that time the world was immersed in a world war, which ended up tearing apart the British empire.

Thus, I think there is a place for grass roots organizing, helping the ADC, the antiwar movement, etc. etc, but I think the shoe will only drop on this when the failure to pursue US vital interests are widely perceived to be damaging US power and prestige. We are still a long way off from that.

What he fails to add is the irony that the vast majority of jews also favor the Apartheid practices of Israel as evidenced by their overwhelming support for continued American aid to the Apartheid Regime. This double standard is rather obviously predicated upon racist constructs as to the goodness of Jews having a expansionist state of their own whereas others deserve no such entitlement.

I watched Obama's speech to AIPAC and was inclined to gag upon his devotion to Israel. Shouldn't candidates for the Presidency of the USA be expressing their devotion to America? I don't think the unadulterated statements of devotion to Israel would have passed the American smell test even 10 years ago. Now, thanks to the post 9-11 propaganda they are now de rigueur.

comment from the garage(all great americn ideas originate in a garage): german education has made germans into ghosts.