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<DIV>Dear greenBubble and everyone,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As you might expect, I can't find any merit in this article at all.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The important reason is, why not?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I note in passing that <EM>The Spectator</EM> and <EM>World</EM> magazine
are somewhat MORE partisan in their peculiar caterwauling than either of the
candidate's campaign organizations are. They have a right to express their
opinion, but there is nothing factually reliable there.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have a long term view of politics. Barack Obama became a plausible
candidate for president because he broke the decripit stereotypes that American
politics had been locked into. The artificial monstrosities of "blue states" and
"red states," the tired and almost meaningless terms "liberal" and
"conservative," the infatuation with cultural polarization that accurately
describes very few Americans. We are each much more complex than either the
media or the professional politicos give us credit for, and we exist in much
more complex webs of inter-relation to each other.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Obama understands those complex interconnections that make us Americans,
and those voters who have supported him, and seem ready to do so again, sense
that, respond to it, look forward to leadership of the nature he offers.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, he has a capacity to think about what he is doing, or saying, and to
then answer decisively, as opposed to acting without thinking (the Bush style)
or dithering without saying or doing anything (the style which cost John Kerry
the 2004 election). He doesn't run away or go into loud denial either -- for
instance, he waded right into the Jeremiah Wright controversy, and refused to
cater to any loud demands from either admirers or critics of Wright.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters of the world (and add Melanie Phillips
to the list) feel threatened by Obama, because their careers and influence, such
as it is, are built in the very hatreds and polarizations which Obama is capably
demolishing. So, rather than criticize him for what he is, they are trying to
demonize him with the same tired old characterizations. It is not working,
because these characterizations do not fit him, and a majority of voters
recognize that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This article you just posted is exactly the kind of desperate hysteria I am
referring to.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By contrast, the <EM>Chicago Tribune</EM>, the most conservative Republican
major daily in the country, has probably endorsed a Democrat for the first time
in its history in choosing Barack Obama. The Tribune has been the source of the
most critical factual data about Obama's less than savory associations with
Chicago politics. The Tribune observes, however, that having had the opportunity
to observe his career close-up for many years, before he became a national
figure, and since, it is satisfied he is the most qualified candidate this year.
By all accounts from Illinois, people in the state like a combination of vision
with pragmatic political strategy, and don't hold some compromises with whoever
is in power against Obama.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I believe the authors will be surprised at how Obama does in office. I
believe that his administration will not only be the end of
pseudo-"conservative" hysteria, it will be the end of liberalism as we know it.
Nancy Pelosi will just have to go along for the ride, because she doesn't have
any other options.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now, as to the specific matter of Israel, I am a little disappointed that
Obama has catered so much to the mantra required of American politicians to
loudly proclaim their commitment to Israel. I don't believe that the foreign
policy of the United States of America should be held hostage to any nation,
including Israel. It speaks poorly of our democracy when any ethnic voting bloc
can exercise a veto for its pet nation. (By the same token, I am not offended
that Jonathan Pollard felt impelled to spy on the U.S. for Israel -- they are,
after all, two distinct sovereign nations, and their interests do not always
perfectly coincide). I feel the same way about urban concentrations of Slovaks,
Serbs and Croats sabotaging George F. Kennan's diplomatic work with
President Tito of Yugoslavia during circa 1960. This is America, not a surrogate
for any foreign power. I also feel the same about President Reagan appointing an
ambassador to the Vatican, which is not a state except in its own
pretensions.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Israel does have a right to exist. Some of its policies are, in the long
run, going to jeopardize its own existence, and perhaps our nation should firmly
make that clear and refuse to give any Israeli government carte blanche.
Likewise, we should stop catering to brutal dictatorships in Arabic-speaking
nations, which simply turn the oppressed population hostile to us, when we
should be a beacon of hope to them. (Hosni Mubarak in Egypt comes to mind, and
our schizophrenic relationship to the Wahabi theocracy in Saudi Arabia).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But I expect President Obama will for the most part leave US policy toward
Israel about as it is. That is the safe thing to do, politically, particularly
during a president's first term. He may be able to help Israel by reaching out
more credibly to its neighbors.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are, in fact, millions of Arab-Americans, who have endured the
absurdity of being cast as second class citizens as Obama was accused of being
Muslim or Arab. As Colin Powell finally had the courage to point out, "So what
if he is?" He's not, but neither Muslim faith nor Arab descent disqualifies any
native-born American citizen from being president. A large portion of
Arab-Americans are fifth generation. Labor unions in 1900 had to translate
leaflets into Arabic, among a dozen other languages, because so many Syrian and
Lebanese immigrants were in the work force. Generally, these Americans have not
held candidates hostage by demanding that they denounce Israel, or pledge
military aid to whatever country their grandparents or great great grandparents
emigrated from.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Is America really going to do this? I believe we are, and thank G-d for
it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV></BODY></HTML>
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