Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Obama: God for the Jews?
Friday, March 23, 2007

As I have written here (and here) in the last few weeks, I think the blogosphere can be great for a number of things, as we just saw when the Net quickly cobbled together all the critiques of the new Jesus documentary into a unified whole. But the blogosphere can also create faux controversies where there is no underlying reason. That's the case, I believe, with the mini-hullabaloo over Obama and the Jews. As best I can tell (and please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong), the flap started when Ben Smith of Politico (who recently apologized for getting the Edwards story completely wrong) published a piece suggesting that Jews at the recent AIPAC meeting, meaning highly politicized, Israel-right-or-wrongers, feel a "real, if kind of inchoate, skepticism" about the Illinois senator.

From that, bloggers across the spectrum sprung into action to explain this purported problem, offering everything from his perceived Islamic sensitivity, his appeasement of the Palestinians, to the fact that he's black. Here's how Andrew Sullivan summarized the situation.

I don't get the hostility from some American Jews (although the "cynicism" line in his AIPAC speech was lame). Neither does Matt Yglesias. MetaDC has an explanation (hint: JesseJackson). Beth Gottfried thinks the criticism reflects Obama's increasing appeal to Jewish Americans.

The reason Andrew does not get the hostility is it may not be there. The only sources Smith uses to build his case are E.J. Kessler, a NY Post editor, and Morton Klein, the president of the hyper pro-Israel Zionist Organization of America. Memo to Mr. Smith: The New York Post and ZOA hardly speak for the majority of Jews in America, most of whom are Reform, liberal, pro-Israel, for sure, but also queasy about the failure of Israel to tackle the settlement issue in a substantive way, and frustrated the Olmert launched a hasty war in Lebanon last summer that he could not finish successfully.

As for Obama, he comes out of a church and a political culture in Chicago that have been supportive to Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. He has spoken favorably about Palestinian rights in the past and had his picture taken with Edward Said. But on his policy statements in recent years, he has shown a willingness to criticize the Palestinians and Israelis (as well as speak to the Iranians), a position that may not please the Israel right-or-wrong crowd but that is objectively smart about the region. Based on my contacts and conversations in the Jewish community in recent months, I would not say any hesitation about Obama stems from his positions on the Middle East, but on the larger issue of his lack of experience. In this regard, Obama's problem is not with the Jews; it's with the country.

Labels: Judaism, Politics in America

Posted by B Feiler at 8:15 AM
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