Re: [Peace-discuss] Barack Obama: "America’s First Jewish President" ??
Morton K. Brussel
brussel at illinois.edu
Sat Dec 20 13:23:34 CST 2008
David, you may be right, but I am not so sure as you. I remember that
at least once in the past Obama did stick up for the Palestinians. So
he knows something about their condition. If he is not completely
amoral, it is (remotely) conceivable that he might try to modify the
status quo in Israel-Palestine. There are some geopolitical reasons
for him to do so, if he wishes. You say he won't, but if he did, even
moderately, I'd guess that the Zionist crowd wouldn't only respond
behind the scenes, quietly. They might, for example, join a
Republican chorus.
(Perhaps the argument should not depend so much on the crudeness or
nastiness of their attacks. )
Electorally and financially, it seems to me that AIPAC and its
friends have more influence than you give them credit for. As I've
tried to say before, one does not have to say they control our
government's policies. Rather, they are an influence sustained by
media and money, and soon they will be present the OB White House to
plead their case, not necessarily one congruent with those of other
power interests that determine government policies. Moreover, guys
like Dennis Ross may well be be representing our policies on the
world stage.
Finally, are you sure that "the majority … supports a just peace"? I
--Mort
On Dec 19, 2008, at 10:34 PM, David Green wrote:
> AIPAC/WINEP is the liberal/conservative Democrat/Republican (mostly
> the former in each case) Zionist lobby. They're smart enough to
> know that publicly criticizing a deliberate and "even-handed"
> effort by Obama to make peace along the lines of 242 would be
> shooting themselves in the foot--they'd be exposed, possibly never
> the same. They've never really operated that way, especially not
> with a popular president. They're smart enough to know that
> spoiling Obama's honeymoon with nastiness is not the ticket,
> especially in relation to the youthful idealists, who are naive
> about Israel but not supportive, who don't go to AIPAC and would be
> genuinely shocked to experience the atmosphere at the annual
> convention of Stalinist discipline and blatant anti-Arab racism.
> But that's beside the point--Obama is their man, because he wants
> to be. Their power is to operate behnd the scenes in order to
> maintain the myth that they are pulling the strings, even while
> they're being pulled by BHO and HRC and the defense establishemnt.
> They would try to undermine diplomacy in less direct ways,
> especially given that AIPAC/WINEP is where diplomats like Dennis
> Ross go when they're on hiatus. Or perhaps they'll be directly
> involved in the diplomacy so that the "peace process" can go on and
> on for another 60 years. If Obama were to pull different strings
> (he won't, because he doesn't want to, unless public pressure
> convinves him that his political survival depends on it, then,
> maybe), they would continue to pressure behind the scenes, not in
> Obama's face, which would give Obama the opportunity to slam dunk
> them to resounding applause from the majority that supports a just
> peace. But again, he won't, because he doesn't want to, because he
> doesn't represent the majority. He will maintain the status quo in
> I/P, and the Lobby will maintain the myth of its power, and that a
> just peace is not "politically possible" because of--take your
> pick--Hamas, Netanyahu, Hizbollah, Iran, Afghanistan, the settlers,
> the GWOT, the Holocaust, etc. Or, it's just around the corner if
> only Hamas would stop firing rockets, blah blah blah.
>
> DG
>
> From: Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 5:14:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Barack Obama: "America’s First Jewish
> President" ??
>
> This is truly hypothetical, but I wouldn't be so sure that Obama
> wouldn't be attacked (by AIPAC followers, for example) if he
> shifted his positions to favor the Palestinians and condemned
> Israel for its criminality against those Palestinians. Some might
> keep their mouths shut; others would not. Crudely insulted? Depends
> on how crudely…
> --mkb
>
>
> On Dec 19, 2008, at 1:04 PM, David Green wrote:
>
>> From the Petras article:
>>
>> "One can envision how quickly his Zionist colleagues would replace
>> their plaudits with crude insults regarding his intelligence if he
>> suggested Israel end its starvation blockade of Gaza… Needless to
>> say the Zionists know their man, as they confidently proclaim, he
>> is a cautious and prudent politician, who measures power before he
>> speaks, especially as he has filled the White House, economic
>> councils and security apparatus with Zionist zealots."
>>
>> This is crude (and borderline anti-semitic) nonsense. Crude
>> insults are inconceivable except from the Horowitz/Pipes far
>> right. Again, Obama does what he does because he is at best
>> willing to allow Israel to do what it wants. It is inconceivable
>> that he would be crudely insulted by those who want to find favor
>> with him--they don't want to in the first place, and it would
>> backfire bigtime. Obama freely chooses his colleagues and his
>> positions--within the limits that allowed him to be elected in the
>> first place. He abides by those limits because that's who he is.
>> From: Brussel Morton K. <mkbrussel at comcast.net>
>> To: peace-discuss Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 11:04:12 AM
>> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Barack Obama: "America’s First Jewish
>> President" ??
>>
>> For those interested in Obama's allegiance to Israel/Zionism, read
>>
>> http://petras.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=1768&more=1&c=1
>>
>> Barack Obama: "America’s First Jewish President"
>>
>> According to a nationally prominent Zionist spokesperson, former
>> Congressman, Federal Judge, White House Counsel to President Bill
>> Clinton and early backer of Obama, Abner Mikvner, “Barack Obama is
>> the first Jewish President”.
>>
>> The main criticism I have with Petras, who reveals an interesting
>> history in his article, is that he ignores other strong influences/
>> motivations of American policy—the desire to control the ME
>> resources, the military industrial complex, imperialism, etc. .
>>
>> --mkb
>>
>>
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