You say, "I don't think blacks are any better than Jews." Umm, I'm mostly a supporter of your dialogue, I think you're doing good work here, for real, for true.

But the way to say it is, "I don't think Jews are any better than blacks," not the other way around.

Once you acknowledge Jewish power, the narrative of victimhood is gone. And without victimhood the narrative of choseness starts to look uncomfortably like old-fashioned supremacism. And without choseness what's left? A few yiddishisms, chicken soup, and jokes about pushy mothers? It's not enough.

(I'm leaving aside Judaism — the religion — of course, as it's a hard sell these days.)

That is a human urge, but emphasized among Jews as the measure of the man. A mensch, not merely a material success, not merely power for its own sake.

If others do as well, in their own way, wonderful.

But back to Phil's subject: Do you think the Jewish community has a tough time publicly acknowledging its power?

No offence, but that is not the narrative I keep hearing on the street.

It's more like the Jeffersons "moving on up" hummed by millions of people…

By this criteria, Hispanics, Native Americans, Afro-Americans are totally underrepresented, White Americans are over-represented and Jewish-Americans are staggeringly over – represented.

To me, the lack of Hispanics in the government is most puzzling.