Like many of you, I’m an Obama supporter. A few months ago, I started to hear about various efforts among progressive Jews to support him. (Righteous Indignation expressed prior interest in nonpartisan GOTV activities.) But so far, the dominant effort on my radar screen seems to be JewsforObama.com, for view (strangely enough) at www.jews4barack.com.
On the one hand, yeah, it’s great that Jews are showing support for Obama given the racist whisper campaign waged against him. On the other… well check out this latest effort – a condensed version of Obama’s speech to AIPAC. The email I received encouraged me to order an even more condensed speech only available on DVD. It’s exactly 6 minutes and 13 seconds long. Get it? 6:13. (The traditional number of mitzvot Jews are supposed to carry out.) The email ends with:
Obama is a strong supporter of Israel and has clearly stated many times that he holds Israel’s security to be sacrosanct. Pass the word!
So… most of my Jewish friends support Obama and are hoping he will break with previous US policy of supporting Israeli government policies no matter what. The ‘what’ refers to policies harmful both to Israeli long term interests and US interests in the Arab and Muslim world. Not to mention, that among our concerns is the fate of the stateless Palestinians, whose dispossession and lack of sovereignty is due, in large part, to US military and diplomatic support for Israeli efforts to maintain the occupation.
This narrative runs counter to the common wisdom of the Jewish mainstream. I’m an opponent of the dominant voices of the Jewish mainstream. If the Jewish flavor of the pro-Obama ice-cream shop is all about Israel’s security being sacrosanct, and the main offering is a goddamn celebration of Obama’s pandering to the AIPAC crowd, then it has nothing to offer me. On the contrary – I’d rather it fail somehow, and for Obama to win anyway.
It’s odd though, that this effort is full of folks with a history of activism in the Jewish peace camp. What the hell? The guy behind all this is Gidon Remba, a veteran peace activist with Americans for Peace Now and Ameinu. The board of directors he has assembled includes loads of folks who have been on the OTHER side of the barricades – which is not the AIPAC side. For example, Rabbis Melissa Weintraub and Mordecai Liebling.
The tone of this effort is that of the hawkish peace camp. These are the folks with a record of attacking US supporters of the Israeli peace camp who refuse to couch every critique of Israeli policy with an equal and opposite denunciation of Palestinian sins. It’s like, their job is to attack the left in America while supporting it in Israel. The logic is that focusing on illegal settlements, the criminal human rights violations of the IDF, the starvation of Gaza and the utter corruption of the Israeli government might somehow play into the hands of our enemies, the non-Jews who talk about exactly these issues with an eye to pressuring Israel.
It’s abhorrent too, in part because of the distance between what they think and what they say. There’s a kind of PR obsession with who is speaking and who the likely audience might be. Even Jon Stewart made fun of Obama’s speech to AIPAC, where he championed the eternal unity of Jerusalem (1) (barf). Heck, even the Obama campaign backtracked on that (2). So why would Mr. Remba, a supposed dove, endorse this kind of performance by using it as a recruiting device? My theory is that he thinks it will attract Jews who support that crap and might therefore vote for Obama. (Then again, I confess I haven’t actually asked.)
I don’t know Mr. Remba so he isn’t disappointing me personally…. But Rabbis Weintraub and Liebling? These two I respect. I sure hope there is more here than meets the eye. Or less.
As a Jewish progressive, I’m hoping that all those racist, intolerant, trigger-happy, Israel-right-or-wrong Billary supporting Jews in Florida vote for Obama. And I hope that Obama makes the costly US military and diplomatic security envelope for Israel dependent on ending the occupation, full stop, no excuses. I worry that Remba is supporting the first cause at the direct expense of the other.
(1) Actual quote is: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”
(2) “Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties” as part of “an agreement that they both can live with.” Quoted in Foreign Policy in Focus 6/11/08
Please note: since August 2010, JVoices has ceased publishing new work. We hope you enjoy the articles that remain live as an archive and trusted resource of bold Jewish writing of our time.
Jonathan Kamens
July 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am
Just as we at Jews for Obama believe that Obama’s strength comes from his ability to unify rather than to divide, we also aim through our efforts for unity rather than divisiveness. For example, in the same Newsletter where we wrote about Obama’s AIPAC speech, we also published the endorsement of Rabbi Bernard Mehlman, a prominent progressive. We’ve published plenty of endorsements and articles from progressives on our Web site, as well as articles and endorsements from those who are considered right of center. We’ve consistently advocated the position that rather than being afraid of the fact that Obama is on good terms with some Palestinian activists, we should be thrilled, because only a President who has the respect of both sides will be able to serve as an honest broker in the peace process, which we believe (as does Obama, as far as we can tell) is the appropriate role for the US President.
We are inspired by Barack Obama and confident that he will be able to bring a new direction to efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because he accepts neither the far-left axiom that Israel is responsible for the conflict and therefore responsible for resolving it, nor the far-right axiom that the Arabs and Palestinians have brought everything on themselves and we shouldn’t give them the time of day until they stop trying to kill us.
Expecting Israel to work toward peace at the expense of her own security is a non-starter. Expecting the Palestinians to work toward peace in the absence of humane treatment and good-faith negotiations from Israel is also a non-starter.
While it is wrong to “attack US supporters of the Israeli peace camp who refuse to couch every critique of Israeli policy with an equal and opposite denunciation of Palestinian sins,” it is right to dismiss those on the left who consistently critique Israeli policy without ever criticizing the Palestinians, just as it is right to dismiss those on the right who defend everything Israel does and dehumanize the Palestinians. The conflict will not be resolved by people on these two extremes, but ratther by people who know how to walk a more unifying path. We steadfastly believe that Barack Obama is such a unifier.
Obama is not going to give people on the far left everything they want, nor is he going to give the pepole on the far right everything they want. What he will do, instead, is look for and leverage common ground for the good of all, and we at Jews for Obama are proud to join him in that endeavor.
(I am one of the co-founders of the current incarnation of Jews for Obama.)
jordan
July 21st, 2008 at 11:27 am
News is slow, but there is no longer a unified “WE” voice coming for Jews4Obama.com with some specific liberal or even conservative perspective.
Doni Remba has left Jews4Obama.com to run a new professional organization called KahalAmerica.com, which may develop boards with rabbis and the like.
J4O has returned to its netroots as a ragtag bunch of volunteers — liberal, conservative, orthodox, atheists, agnostics — without any authority (other than granted by ICANN:) doing the righteous work of trying to get Obama elected with substantial support by the US Jewish community which has been overrun with viral slander.
We have no board of directors, advisors, rabbis, Macher supporters, corporate tax status, locus of operations, deep pockets, to sue, libel, or even embarrass.
However, we are burning the shabbat candles at both ends until November, then will go home like good old-fashioned Jewish Utopian Anarchists!
clenchner
July 21st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hey Jordan and Jonathan – thanks for responding here! I really appreciate it. I know that readers will be glad they got your perspective, as well as the news about J4O’s ongoing evolution. Good luck!
Howard
September 21st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
OBAMA = BETRAYAL
Obama supporters are foolish to think that he will never betray them.
Obama was a close friend of Pastor Wright for TWENTY YEARS.
Obama threw Wright under the bus for personal ambition.
McCain would not betray his country even after 5 years of torture.
You can put lipstick on a traitor, but he’s still a traitor.
Jonathan Kamens
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Obama was a close friend of Pastor Wrights for TWENTY YEARS.
Um, no, actually, he wasn’t.
My father is a pulpit rabbi. During his career, there are literally thousands of families who were inspired by my father to be better Jews and who consulted him for spiritual guidance, sought counseling from him during crises in their lives, and invited him to officiate at their circumcisions, baby namings, confirmations, bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, and funerals.
My father is not “close friends” with the vast majority of these people, just as Obama is not and has never been a “close friend” with the Rev. Wright. Wright was his clergyman, not his friend.
Obama threw Wright under the bus for personal ambition.
Actually, Obama stuck with Wright for far longer than was beneficial for his political career. If Obama’s was driven by “ambition” rather than by the integrity and strength of character which I and so many others see in him, then he would have cut Wright loose long before he did.
In reality, Obama didn’t throw Wright under the bus; Wright through Obama under the bus, and it was only after that happened that Obama disassociated himself from Wright.
In contrast, McCain has betrayed his principles to win the nomination for president, as anyone can see from looking at the many serious issues on which he flip-flopped in order to win (http://njdc.typepad.com/njdcs_blog/2008/07/senator-mccain.html). His silly, tired old “you can’t criticize me on anything because I was a POW in vietnam for five years” won’t help him evade this simple fact.
And, by the way, he was not tortured for five years.