Obama and the Jews

The part time occupation of the part time Jews in the major media outlets for the last week or so has been to tackle Obama's Jewish problem head on, in the same way that major corporations tackle the public revelation their product is fatally toxic to babies-- by shaking their heads, smiling weakly and assuring us that it's all in our heads.

If we're to believe the New York Times, the Washington Post and the rest of the good people at Media Central, the whole Jewish problem with Obama is the result of some provocative emails sent out by Karl Rove in his spare time that unfairly paint Obama as a Muslim to some gullible senior citizens.

"There, there," the media assures these elders, "Obama isn't a Muslim. He's the Messiah come to lead us to the promised land of big government, Cuban quality health care and environmental taxes on every ounce of bread we eat." And on the way there he may stop by the Middle East to lead Hamas to Jerusalem.

"Hasn't Obama said that he's Pro-Israel," the columnists bewails, "how many times does he need to say it." They don't stay to hear the reply that he doesn't need to say it, he needs to be it. For a skeptical profession they seem oddly offended that anyone is taking a politician's statements in an election year with a grain of salt. "Listen to the man," they say, "pay no attention to the Zbigniew Brzezinski, George Soros, Tony Lake, Samantha Power and Robert O. Malley behind the curtain."

Hasn't Obama already fired Samantha Power who wanted an invasion of Israel and Robert O' Malley who was already privately meeting with Hamas, they protest. That just leaves George Soros without whom Obama would be just another junior Senator angling for an entry level spot on a committee, Brzezinski who helped bring Iran and Al Queda into existence and the rest of Obama's radicals, both from his Chicago Wright days and his Harvard period, who are all too full of thoughts on what should be done with America and Israel.

The media which until recently was doing its best to pretend that the only people who could possibly oppose Obama were Satanists or worse yet Christians, has decided to believe that the only Democrats who oppose Obama are the senile elderly, hysterical feminists or rednecks. And the media is sure that once Obama is officially anointed at the convention, they along with the Jews will learn to fall into line behind the Kossacks, just like their ancestors did in Eastern Europe. If not, there's always a cavalry charge.

While the leaders of major Jewish organizations are being called on the carpet by the Democratic leadership and told that they will lose influence and face a major backlash and the destruction of the "Black-Jewish alliance" if they don't get behind Obama right now and leap into action to reassure their communities that Obama is A-OK; the Jewish public's concerns are being poo-poohed by the press which is certain those ignorant folks in Brooklyn and Miami Beach will follow marching orders at the polls as soon as their own leadership does. For now some of the Jewish organizations are holding out for assurances that will no doubt fall away once Obama stops by for a meet and greet over bagels and lox and assures them how much he enjoyed Fiddler on the Roof.

As the ultimate outsider who belongs nowhere Obama has shown a great talent for repackaging himself into a dozen ethnic and racial identities. Obama can be white or black. He can be Christian or Muslim. He can be a wealthy Harvard educated professional or a street level community activist. Like an MC Escher picture, he's a collection of impossibly intersecting levels that seem oddly out of perspective for reasons that aren't apparent until you try to follow his contradictions. With all that in mind, there's no reason that Obama can't also repackage himself as a Jew.

To that end, Obama is already reimagining himself as a Zionist thanks to a Jewish sixth grade camp counselor and speaking of his love for the writings of Leon Uris and Philip Roth. While it's safe to assume that Obama won't be giving any readings of Leon Uris' The Haj, a book that captured with unnerving accuracy the psychological fault lines of Arab culture, he is displaying a talent more worthy of the literary works of other writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald or Theodore Dreiser. The talent of recreating himself into what people most want to see, the gift of the true con artist.

Obama hasn't begun name dropping Uris and Roth out of a sudden love for old Jewish writers. Instead he's discovered a sudden love of the same things that elderly and middle aged Jewish voters who have jilted him are interested in. Like the cynical suitor who studies a girl's habits to discover her tastes and mirrors them to seduce her, Obama has made it his practice to jump in and out of identities and personas. Today Obama is reading Leon Uris. Tomorrow there's a rally in San Francisco and he's reading Amy Tan. The day after that he will be connecting to Feminists by namedropping some Erica Jong. Which selection in the infinitely expandable Obama Book Club best reflects who he is? The answer is none of them. The only thing that reflects on Obama is that he is determined to be President and willing to say anything to make it happen.

Jewish voters are nothing more to him than another breed of cattle to be coaxed through the gates of the polling centers to vote for him. The Democratic party relies on a varied and diverse herd led by Judas Goat community leaders to win office and they're good at managing the herd. Stop by for a pizza in Little Italy, a bagel on the Lower East Side, some won ton in Chinatown and a burger in Harlem. Shake everyone's hand, smile, relate and then slip some assurances and earmarks under the table to the community leaders. The herd sighs. The herd is happy as they led back to the barn until the next milking or slaughter.

In making the choice to break with Obama. Jewish voters are being given the chance to allow a larger moral reckoning to win out over this cheap type of ethnic pandering that the Obama campaign is engaging in. It is not guilt that should motivate Jewish voters to reject Obama. There will be plenty time for guilt after 8 years of Obama have done their damage just as there was after 1946. Guilt is the luxury of those who made an unforgivable mistake. This is the year when we can prevent the mistake from being made. Guilt is the refuge of those who know that what they are doing is wrong but refuse to change. This is the year when we can change.

Obama is not our savior. Obama is no one's savior but his own. As his cult of personality spreads, millions of Americans are throwing reason and rationality out the window to embrace the promise of a one man solution to all their problems. But Obama's background has left him with two poisoned outsider's gifts, a legacy of hatred for America and the ability to camouflage his real feelings to blend in anywhere.

When a nation brings a cult of personality leader to power, it is typically at a low point in its national self-confidence and finds an outsider to rule over them in the hope he will save them from themselves. Just as Hitler was an Austrian ruling over Germany, Stalin was an Ossetian ruling over Russia, Obama is an African Arab with a Muslim background positioning himself for the White House. With a slim record and a campaign built primarily around his outgoing personality, Obama is America's biggest mistake waiting to be made. Let's not play any part in making it.

We don't need to be saved from ourselves. We need to be saved from leaders who think that we rather than they are the problem. We need to be saved from leaders who imagine that disarming America and destroying Israel will make our enemies love us. We need to be saved from leaders who have more empathy for the enemy than they do for the citizens they rule over.

We don't need to be saved by a lifelong con artist with a manufactured biography who repackages himself to appeal to everyone while concealing his real sympathies behind a facade of multilevel marketing outreach. We need to be saved from him and only we can save ourselves from him.

Update: Obama close foreign policy advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski accuses Jews of McCarthyism and penned an op ed warning against any military action against Iran and even calls for democracy in Iran. The op ed calls for negotiating with no preconditions to provide Iran with nuclear power, the same disastrous approach taken with North Korea, and claims that the idea that Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel, is the product of paranoia.

I think we have a preview here of what Obama's policy would be. Negotiate with Iran without pre-conditions. Give Iran nuclear materials. Turn a blind eye to violations. Remove sanctions. Prevent any Israeli pre-emptive strike against the reactor. Deride anyone who disagrees as paranoid.

It's Munich all over again.