[Peace-discuss] Robert's Progressive Rabbi

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The following paragraphs were written by Alexander Cockburn, one of the
editors (with Jeffrey St. Clair) of <counterpunch.org>.  There was a
dispute in February 2003 about Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, and
whether he was barred from speaking at an anti-war rally by the
machinations of another anti-war group.  The full article is available at
<www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Cockburn_Outcry-Lerner-Kucinich-Jah.htm>.]


CounterPunch's inbox is suddenly clogged with e-traffic about Michael
Lerner being banned from speaking at the San Francisco rally. We got one
list of protesting signatories studded with notables and miscreants, like
Eric Alterman who normally spends his time deriding the antiwar protests,
just like Marc Cooper, who clearly sees a "Let Lerner Speak" campaign as a
good way of smearing ANSWER and NION (Not in Our Name).

My initial reaction was to say to Jeffrey St Clair that any move to keep
Lerner from pouring out his usual freshets of idiocy is sound by
definition, but on mature consideration I counsel the organizers of the
San Francisco rally to slot Lerner in at some point in the proceedings

I'm quite prepared to believe that Lerner, a relentless self-promoter, has
managed to piss off everybody with egocentric posturing and unity-wrecking
maneuvers, and maybe his plan from the start has been to engineer a
situation in which he can howl that Jew-haters have laid him low. But let
the guy speak anyway. Mostly people don't listen to speeches, and if you
suddenly hear Lerner's voice disturbing the harmony of the great
convergence, move into a drumming circle and blot the guy out.

Every now and again Lerner writes to CounterPunch asking for our support
when he'd been attacked by the neocons. Tikkun has published some good
stuff such as reports by Tanya Reinhart, one the best reporters and
commentators in Israel. [Lerner's] a flake, but on Israel, considering the
mostly awful spectrum of opinion here, he's often been constructive. Look
at other American-Jewish publications and you'll see what I mean. For a
good exchange which excitingly revealed Lerner's distinct limitations I
refer you to his debate with Salman abu-Sitta on the right of Palestinian
return.

Lerner and Hillary Clinton had a thing going for a brief moment, and then
she, like so many others, realized that having Lerner around the place was
like having a badly trained retriever, either jumping up and licking your
face or making a mess in the corner. It reminds me somehow of Norman
Podhoretz back in the days of Camelot, who conceived a passion for Jackie
Kennedy and came to believe that somehow, against all the odds, she
secretly reciprocated his yearning. Eventually, at some cocktail party he
cornered her and pressed his suit. She gazed at him as though he was a
centipede on her sleeve, and said icily, "Why, Mr Podhoretz, just who do
you think you are?" Not long thereafter the jilted Poddy began his long
trek to the right.

  ==============================================================
  C. G. Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466   
  <www.carlforcongress.org>
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