Jeffrey Blankfort says I'm dreaming when I predict a fall for the lobby:
even when it was at its zenith. It has never had much outreach beyond
Florida and parts of New Jersey and beyond a handful of Miami-based
organizations it needed the support of the most right wing elements in
Congress who based their support on their anti-communist bias, not on
political contributions or AIPAC-like intimidation (as well as the
unofficial backing of The Lobby). The Gonzales case proved it. So go
easy on the Kool-Aid. If the Scahill piece wasn't convincing, here's
the most succinct analysis of what we have just seen. It comes from an
old friend from the 60s, John Ross, who became a chronicler of the Zapatistas, was a human shield in Iraq and the West Bank. In the Anderson Valley Advertiser, a Mendocino Co. paper with some national circulation (Alex Cockburn writes for it) he wrote on Nov.26, linked at Counterpunch:
annd because it was a gimmick and a shuck, will thwart and demoralize
the recreation of a real social movement for years to come."
I hope John is wrong but the odds that he is right increase with every new day.
Response: I don't have to be the alienated left forever, do I? Temperamentally I'm too positive, also I would like to get another paycheck or two sometime. I want to have a little faith, even if I'm not Michael Lerner. While not arguing with any of the facts in what you say, I believe Obama is a good man. If he hornswoggles the social movement that actually supported him, we're still here and we're in the American house. We will play our part. I'm going to distinguish in my life between politicians and friends. I expect more from my friends. As to the fall of the Israel lobby, of course they're much stronger than the Cubans. But the dog will have its day. New stuff comes along. A friend wrote me recently:
named Earl Ravenal (from CATO) wrote that there were two things you
could not question if you wanted to remain a member of the "serious" foreign policy establishment: 1) the need for a robust nuclear deterrent, and 2) the U.S. commitment to NATO. Today the sacred cow has another name.
