Obama-rama

The Left is downright giddy with anticipation that presidential candidate Barack Obama is going to crush the almighty "Israel Lobby" and its Zionist minions.

On the day Obama announced his candidacy, the increasingly unhinged Phillip Weiss posted this blog entry titled (I kid you not) "A Few Thoughts About Obama's Threat to Zionism":

I just watched Obama in Springfield. You can prepare all you want for a big moment, but then the moment happens, and we're all changed. I'm excited. And I have to think one of the consequences of Obama's globally democratic dream is that, without it being explicit, without his having a fight with big Jewish backers—without fireworks—U.S. policy in the Middle East is going to shift.

Obama was borne up on....idealism, and his campaign is about bringing that idealism to America's actions in the world....The ideology of Zionism is simply out of step with that spirit, and if Obama succeeds, Zionism will lose its hold on Jewish-American intellectual life. Without fireworks.

Wow, great news Phillip! Clearly, Jewish nationalism is incompatible with global democracy and idealism. Utopia here we come.

Meanwhile, in response to the news that Obama will be giving a speech to AIPAC on Friday, blogger M.J. Rosenberg offers this commentary:

Will this be his Sister Soulja moment where he tells a powerful interest group something it does not want to hear, specifically that as President he will embrace the role of honest broker and help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace and security.

This post got quite a bit of support from commenters: "I'd like to see Obama challenge those folks at AIPAC, as fellow Americans, to care as much about New Orleans or Detroit as they do about Tel Aviv," said one. "Obama is my favorite but, if he just goes with AIPAC, I'll shop around," said another.

Nice to know that there are elements on the Left who consider support for Israel to be their ultimate litmus test for casting their votes. (The environment? Social Security? Abortion Rights? Screw that...Priority Number One is going after those Israel-firsters!)

My guess is that Obama's speech will be eloquent, though boilerplate (support for Israel, the need for a two-state solution, etc.). He's likley to piss-off the far-right Zionist groups, because he advocates dialogue with Iran and Syria. The always tactful Mort Klein at ZOA has declared: "You can’t give any legitimacy to terrorist regimes; you just have to work to destroy them. Barack Obama worries me more than any other candidate because he seems to be the one most likely to appease tyrants and dictators...."

Meanwhile, over at the blog of the left-leaning Richard Silverstein, he lavished praise on Obama for his "nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict":

In a Podcast during a trip to the region last summer, Obama said his visit to the West Bank offered a “sense of the differences between life for Palestinians and Israelis in this region. Palestinians have to suffer through the checkpoint system, the barriers, the fenced-in wall that exists just to get to their jobs, oftentimes to travel from north and south even within the West Bank. It’s created enormous hardship for them — there is high unemployment and the economy is not doing as well as it should.”

At the same time, he said the Palestinians “suffered from leadership that seemed to be more interested in the rhetoric of Israel’s destruction and less interested in actually constructively creating a peaceful solution to the problem and focusing on delivery of services to the Palestinian people.”

Still, alot of folks on the anti-Israel Left are already disillusioned with Obama. The International Solidarity Movement offers a different take on his trip to the West Bank last summer:

One student asked how Arab governments can create a paradigm shift and improve relations with the U.S. When he answered the question, I tried not to give in to frustrated laughter because, I kid you not, this is what he said (I am paraphrasing):

"The Arab governments need to embrace democracy, not theocracy. When you allow the will of God to influence the laws of your country, you will not win the support of the U.S. The Arab governments need to renounce violence against civilians. The US is opposed to theocracy and terrorism and if the Arab governments want to create a paradigm shift, they need to address these concerns of ours. "

So then I asked him, “You say the U.S. is opposed to theocracy and terrorism, how can you explain to the Palestinian people how the U.S. can be opposed to these things but still supports a state that has racist, oppressive, unjust and apartheid policies. And do you see how this paints an inconsistent picture to the people of the Middle East?”

He began his answer by saying he would not accept the assumptions I made and therefore was not going to address that part of my question. He said he could understand the Palestinian view that the policies of the U.S. were one-sided but he said the relationship with Israel was not going to change. My high hopes for Barak Obama’s foreign policy ideas were shot down!

A firm believer in global democracy, idealism, and a supporter of Israel. Phillip Weiss would have a conniption fit.