[Peace-discuss] Cheney at AIPAC

[David Green]

Forward was a longtime voice for Jewish labor
socialism (and is still published in Yiddish and
English, now weekly rather than daily), was reduced to
neoliberalism in the mid-1990s, but once again is
exhibiting a small measure of feistiness--albeit
Cheney is an easy target (with apologies).

DG

Subject: The Forward Editorial: Speak for Yourself

http://www.forward.com/articles/7494
The Forward
Editorial

Speak for Yourself
 
March 17, 2006

It's undoubtedly a measure of the Jews' progress in
American society 
that
the biggest yearly gathering of Jewish political
activists, the Aipac 
policy
conference, has become the most sought-after
Washington platform for
politicians looking to launch or advance ‹ or, on
occasion, salvage ‹ a
career. There was a time when the world's movers and
shakers didn't 
much
want to be seen around our kind. Now there's nothing
they want more 
than to
curry our favor and bask in our reflected glory.
That's probably a good
thing.

That said, we're on murkier ground when a failed
administration decides 
it
would be a good idea to send its least popular figure
to appear before 
this
august assembly. It means they've sized up our crowd
to be a safe 
haven, an
audience they can count on to give them a warm
reception even when 
nobody
else will. That's not an indication of clout. It's a
mark of fealty. It
means they know they've got us in their pocket.

That's the message that was broadcast to the world
last week when Vice
President Cheney appeared before Aipac, properly known
as the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee. If nobody else wants
Dick Cheney, he 
can
always count on the Jews.

Cheney was never much for crowds, but in the past
month, with his 
approval
rating down in the 18% range and his unfortunate Texas
hunting accident
still fresh in the public's mind, he's been more
selective than ever.
According to the White House, he's delivered just five
major addresses, 
not
counting Republican fund-raisers, in the four weeks
since the shooting. 
His
audiences included the Wyoming state legislature, the
American Legion, 
a
Labor Department retirees' summit and a White House
ceremony belatedly
honoring an aging World War II hero. The Aipac
conference was his fifth
appearance, and by all accounts, his most
enthusiastically received. It 
was
also the most intensely covered in the world media.


For the record, here are a few of the vice president's
biggest Aipac
applause lines, as transcribed and reported by the
White House itself:

On legitimate tactics in fighting terror: "By whatever
means are 
necessary ‹
whether diplomatic or military ‹ we will act to
protect the liberty and
lives of our people. (Applause.)"

On Iraq: "Our strategy in Iraq is clear, our tactics
will remain 
flexible,
and we'll keep at the work until we finish the job.
(Applause.)"

On Iran: "For our part, the United States is keeping
all options on the
table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the
regime. 
(Applause.)"

On the administration's record: "Consider for a moment
where we were 
five
years ago, when President Bush and I took office. The
secret planning 
for
the attacks of 9/11 was already well underway... In
Afghanistan, the 
Taliban
were in power... In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was in
power... Today the 
picture
is very different. The Taliban regime is now history,
and 25 million 
Afghans
are free. (Applause.) We have captured or killed
hundreds of al Qaeda; 
put
its leaders on the run; and closed the camps that had
trained the 
killers.
(Applause.) Saddam Hussein wakes up every day in a
jail cell, his sons 
are
dead ‹ (applause) ‹ and Iraqis by the millions have
embraced democracy.
(Applause.) Iraq's leaders reflect the decency of the
Iraqi people, and 
no
dictator is taking their money and giving it to the
families of suicide
bombers. (Applause.)"


Aipac's defenders note, correctly, that the lobby is
always careful to
invite a bipartisan roster of speakers, including top
Democratic as 
well
Republican congressional leaders. As for
administration officials, it's
natural for an organization that's in the business of
cultivating 
influence
to want the biggest names it can trot out. If the
administration 
happens to
send over a vice president who can't show his face in
most crowds, 
hoping
he'll feel at home by us, who are we to say no? And if
the crowd we've
assembled happens to give him a lion-sized hero's
welcome, what's the 
harm
in that? So what if the world media chooses to take
images of Jewish
lobbyists cheering as the vice president threatens
Iran with "all 
options"
and beam them into living rooms from Jakarta to Tehran
to the suburbs 
of
Paris? Who could have anticipated that? Anyway, whose
business is it?

Aipac defenders also argue that it's unfair to hold
them to account as 
if
they were somehow representatives of the Jewish
people. They are, they 
say,
a private corporation answerable only to its members.
Other Jewish
organizations are free to convene their own members
and invite the 
speakers
they prefer. Why should Aipac be judged differently?

Here, though, they're on shakier ground. Like it or
not, Aipac is seen 
in
Washington and around the world as the voice of the
American Jewish
community. And, in fact, that role is built into its
legal structure. 
Its
executive committee includes representatives from each
of the 50-odd
organizations that make up the Conference of
Presidents of Major 
American
Jewish Organizations, from B'nai B'rith and Hadassah
to the major 
synagogue
unions. Aipac is their ‹ our ‹ voice to Washington and
to the world. 
It's
time somebody started taking that role seriously.


Copyright 2006 © The Forward


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