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5 Responses to “Bernard Avishai on Podhoretz, Jewish Liberalism, and Why Obama Strikes a Chord”

1. PCM says:

   January 30, 2008 at 7:47 AM

   Sorry to spoil the Obama lovefest here but I agree with Wieseltier. Yes, Obama has charisma and projects an idealism that is hard to resist but his “content” and experience are, indeed, sorely lacking.

   Yes, it would be extraordinary for a black man to become president but is that really enough for Avishai and others to be so giddy with excitement? Instead of parsing the excitement of his candidacy, parse his record, parse the decisions he’s made since he became a candidate, such as assembling a foreign policy team (Zbigniew Bzrezinski, Robert Malley, Susan Rice) that should worry any supporter of Israel.

   Reply
2. Jerry Haber says:

   January 30, 2008 at 11:25 AM

   Richard,
   I too have jumped on the Obama bandwagon, but for reasons that I mention in the Magnes Zionist blog. I don’t think he will change American policy towards Israel (unfortunately for Israel), but I am hoping that he will change priorities for America. But more importantly, I want Obama to keep winning because I want the Jewish neocons to keep on losing — and the young Jewish progressives to know that grass-roots activism can work.
   Giuliani went down in flames in Florida. I hope he drags with him all my New York Jewish neocon friends who loved him in NYC, and who loved his virulent anti-semitism, oops, I mean, Islamophobia. These guys should retire into their think-tank or private consultancy Hades. Let the “pro-Israel” Jews jump onto a Republican ship as it sinks into Davy Jone’s locker.
   Of course, it is more likely that Hillary will get the nomination, and McCain will defeat her later on.
   But McCain ain’t Giuliani. And Podhoretz isn’t a senior advisor to McCain….
   Man, it’s been a good day for the supporters of Israel and Palestine.

   Reply
3. solution seeker says:

   January 30, 2008 at 2:27 PM

   Thanks for pointing this out Richard.

   Unrelated – Encouraging opinion piece on jpost

   http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523787425&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

   If the Jerusalem Post is featuring this piece, perhaps a shift in public opinion is finally occuring.

   Reply
4. Richard Silverstein says:

   January 30, 2008 at 6:16 PM

   parse his record, parse the decisions he’s made since he became a candidate, such as assembling a foreign policy team (Zbigniew Bzrezinski, Robert Malley, Susan Rice) that should worry any supporter of Israel.

   I appear to know his record far better than you & you haven’t pointed out a single deficiency in his record. I don’t get my views on Israel fr. Leon Wieseltier, the New Republic or other such right-wing pro-Israel sources. Rob Malley would be a terrifc Mideast advisor in an Obama administration as would Susan Rice. What you don’t like about these people is that they wouldn’t be sufficiently pro-Israel (read, in AIPAC’s pocket). They would think for themselves & use U.S. interests as their primary motivator. They would try to balance Israel’s & U.S. interests to find a middle ground instead of settling for a policy based solely on Israel’s alleged (& very short-term) interests.

   Reply
5. Joachim Martillo says:

   January 31, 2008 at 4:39 AM

   I have a slightly different take on Commentary and its role during the Vietnam War.

   You might want to take a look at

   http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/01/anti-war-1960s-versus-2000s.html

   http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/01/obama-versus-israel-lobby.html .

   Avishai misses the role of Midge Decter in Norman Podhoretz’ transformation, and I am somewhat surprised that Richard makes no mention of Jewish Radicalism in the development of American Jewish identity. Richard must be about my age and must therefore remember prominent Jewish radicals especially in association with the civil rights movement.

   Reply