I need to file this datum before it leaves my gray matter for the shores of Tripoli. The other day on Hardball, they were talking about the biggest general election moments, and Howard Fineman of Newsweek said the biggest moment was when Obama showed up at the first debate and showed he was presidential. He won the election that night. Very smart. In the course of his comments, though, Fineman also said that John McCain had served in "the army." I find this stupendous. Famously the son of a Navy admiral, and a grandson of another admiral, McCain went to Annapolis. He was a Navy pilot. Fineman covered this campaign closely. He never registered that.
The reason I'm lighting on this goof is that it is revealing to me of Jewish success culture. We have no truck with the military. As I say here frequently, I never thought about serving in the military, and none of my many nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters has either. No one I know in the Jewish world has a kid in the military. Fineman's goof reflects my culture. As I have reported here, Jews have the lowest rate of service in the military among the big religions. More Buddhists are in the military than Jews (and there are 13 Jews in the Senate, maybe one black guy–how many Buddhists there?).
I know how Jews sustain this imbalance intellectually: We gave at the office– Israel. A militarized state there, some of whose kids are spiritually battered by serving in occupation. Here we're the chattering classes. As Jews come to terms with our immense privilege in this society, we should deal with the issue of service.
