Jeffrey Goldberg's interview with Barack Obama on Israel has
drawn a lot of attention, with Republicans making an issue out of
his statement, "I think is that this constant wound, that this
constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy." I actually
wouldn't make too much of that, because it's clear from the context
that he meant the Arab-Israeli conflict infects all our foreign
policy, not the nation of Israel, but Michael Goldfarb is right that Obama's
statement, even giving him the benefit of the doubt.
But what I found particularly troubling were that his answers
were bizarrely abstract to the point of being evasive. When asked,
"Do you think that justice is still on Israel's side?" It would
have been easy for Obama to just say, "absolutely," but instead, he
said, "I think that the idea of a secure Jewish state is a
fundamentally just idea..." The question was whether it was
still just, and Obama couldn't bring
himself to say that justice is still on Israel's side, instead he
had to talk about the nation conceptually. Lest he offend liberals
by even acknowledging in an abstract sense that the "idea" of
Israel was just, Obama is sure to follow up with, "That does not
mean that I would agree with every action of the state of
Israel..." This suggests that he likes Israel in theory, but not in
practice.
Later in the interview, Obama offers another bouquet to liberals
when he says, "some of the tensions that might arise between me and
some of the more hawkish elements in the Jewish community in the
United States might stem from the fact that I'm not going to
blindly adhere to whatever the most hawkish position is just
because that's the safest ground politically."
The problem is that without explaining what actions of Israel he
doesn't agree with, and what positions he considers too hawkish,
his statements are pretty meaningless.
I also found the interview quite patronizing, when he starts
mentioning the author Philip Roth, and utters the classic, "I've
got all these Jewish friends." His reaction to the Hamas
endorsement was also quite bizarre, he understood why the endorsed
him, and doesn't seem particularly outraged by the idea that a
terrorist group would get behind him. He also says, "I welcome the
Muslim world's accurate perception that I am interested in opening
up dialogue and interested in moving away from the unilateral
policies of George Bush but nobody should mistake that for a softer
stance when it comes to terrorism or when it comes to protecting
Israel's security or making sure that the alliance is strong and
firm." So why should there be any surprise that Hamas thinks he is
willing to deal with them once the dust clears?
With all of that said, my sense is that Obama will continue to
have problems with the pro-Israel community, but will still win
Jewish voters in general. The truth is that the issue of Israel is
pretty low on the list of priorities for most Jews, especially
younger Jews. Unfortunately, Jews are still overwhelmingly
ideologically liberal, so to the extent that they do care about
Israel, they can be bought off pretty easily with vague statements
such as,"You will not see, under my presidency, any slackening in
commitment to Israel's security." The only question for me is how
much McCain can eat into the typical Democratic margin among Jews
in Florida, who tend to be older, especially given his links to
Jeremiah Wright, who is tight with Louis Farrakhan.
topics:
Foreign Policy, Barack Obama, Israel
