Barack Obama’s Charisma Will Save The World
When it comes to Iran, Barack Obama says that the US needs to be careful about the use of force and must pursue other avenues, invoking George Bush and Iraq as foils to his “new foreign policy.”
When it comes to Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama says that Americans should not be quick to judge the man, and should make an attempt to understand his statements, sentiments, and beliefs within the context of his experience in a racist America.
But when it comes to the Palestinians, Barack Obama rejects any such nuanced approach. Instead, he, Hillary Clinton, and every other Democrat try to the best of their abilities to sound as much like George Bush as possible. Deviation from the norm here is not called ‘debate’ or an ‘exchange of ideas,’ it’s downright sedition.
For those who would claim that he might be “concealing” his true opinions: I don’t believe in trojan horse politics; I don’t believe a trojan horse democracy is democracy; the only trick trojan horse candidates play are on those who might support them on that premise.
For those who would claim that for so-called pragmatic reasons Barack Obama must deliver a particular message: on every single other issue on which Obama is supposedly “different,” representing a “new politics,” he has departed from those norms that other politicians adhered to for “pragmatic reasons.” That is precisely what has brought him the attention he has. But not on Palestine.
Everybody is taking Obama’s words seriously nowadays, even if they are different from what we are used to–perhaps because they are different from what we are used to. For somebody in that position, the most responsible thing to do regarding Palestine is not necessarily to take a strong stance against the Israeli occupation (though that would be the only principled thing to do), but to open up the field of discourse as much as possible to allow for free and open debate and participation by different parties.
Instead, Obama, with his loose and pitifully cowardly statements, ignorant of all nuance, narrows this field even further and prevents others with different approaches, ideas, solutions, suggestions, criticisms from participating. The “right to exist,” the “renunciation of violence,” the promise to “abide by past agreements”–these are all demands that foreclose the possibility for other perspectives to be heard, let alone considered.
That is, to this day, besides his not-so-stellar voting record, the most disappointing thing about Barack Obama: with every day on the campaign trail that he shifts his discussion about Israel and Palestine, not away from favoring one position to another, but in the direction of trapping himself and the rest of us within a discourse that only privileges and benefits the Israeli government, not the Palestinian or Israeli people, he does more damage than any perceived expediency might do good.
I would much rather have a president who loses while keeping the issues alive than a president who kills the issues in order to survive.
It has been a long tradition in this country that to get elected you have to play in some part to the Jews, Isael and the Jewish lobby in DC. Mark my words, if Barack Obama becomes president, he will give all Arab countries and Iran a fair shot. I firmly believe in his ability to negotiate with the Middle East and end much of the enmity.
Brilliant and coragous commentary, as usual, Yaman. But your closing sentence :
“I would much rather have a president who loses while keeping the issues alive than a president who kills the issues in order to survive.”
does not really add up, does it?! How are you going to have “a president who loses “…?! Surely, he then would not be a “president”, he would be a Ralph Nader… and we already have one of those…!!
You are not the first to express dismay with Obama’s about-face on the Palestinian, and other, issues http://tonykaron.com/2007/03/14/yes-barack-but-how-much-do-you-hate-the-palestinians/
Your observation on Trojan Horse politics, is apt and one has to assume an actual about-face has occured for expedience. However, your claim about his ignorance of the nuances is completely unfounded… The man was friends with Edward Said, after alll…!!
Thus, one needs to compare him with the available field of actual contenders for the office and believe that, at least. the man has the background, the knowledge, the sensitivity, … to be amenable to change when confronted and aided by the efforts that the rest of us must exert on the next president… something that cannot be said for the other two candidates. We cannot wait for a messiah to save us, we have to make the effort… and in that, it would help if there is someone in the White House who has the intellegence and the other qualities that Obama would bring…!!?
Mary, I don’t think it’s fair to say that presidential candidates have to “play to the Jews,” as if candidates don’t have to play to other groups of people, as if ‘the Jews’ are unified on this issue, and as if the candidates are merely putting up a facade and do not actually believe what they are saying.
As for your faith in Barack Obama playing a fair hand to ‘the Arabs and Iran,’ I still don’t know what you base this on, nor do I think that any meaningful vote should be a gamble like this.
I don’t think any American president or candidate is ignorant of the conditions that Palestinians live under, or of the illegality of the Israeli occupation, or of the severe inequalities that Palestinians in Israel live under, or of the discriminatory practices of the Israeli army and settlement enterprise within the West Bank and Gaza.
I just don’t think any of them care, and Barack Obama (who most people know is NOT ignorant on this issue, he has alluded to details in some places in his campaign, that “Being pro-Israel does not mean being pro-Likud”) is starting to look that way too, specifically when it comes to Palestine.
Great article–
It’s like breaking some sort of law nowadays if you speak out against the occupation. Absurd and unconstitutional, but not surprising.
The US government has to go through a major deconstruction of its blind support of Israeli policies.
People such as yourself are at the forefront of bringing about such a change and I’m very thankful for your posts.
I think we can agree, from your last post, that a lot of people are putting too much ill-guided faith into Obama without much evidence. And because of the magical powers that a lot of people think Obama has, we are not putting our efforts and labors into something…that would probably be a bit more constructive that you advocate.
But I think we can agree that we don’t live in a perfect world, and that there isn’t one solution to all these problems that we are surrounded with (though I’m sure if someone who wasn’t a douche bag was in that position a lot of things could be done). Realistically this is not the case and I am inclined to think that it would be a mistake to overlook the potential changes that Obama could instigate on this side of the world, for our brothers and sisters in our cities, I think that’s worth something (especially when a lot of the people I know and admire are saying the same things). And here we will continue the things we need to do to find justice in Palestine and other places.
I agree with your points, and there is always the argument that if you have a perverted sense of justice in one place, how can it not translate to a perverted sense of justice to all other places. I’m not trying to convince you of anything, not trying to say you’re wrong. I’m still confused and debating with myself on whether what I should think or stand for I am just sharing this in the sense of, maybe this discourse that I am having with myself might be valuable to you and maybe give ourselves a different piece of the puzzle that will lead us to a better decision..? maybe?
And I will end with an interesting piece of information that I received awhile ago, which you may or may not have encountered before. That Blacks were supportive of profiling of Muslims, Why? Because it would get the authorities off their backs.)
Thank you Mary for providing a quick anti-Semitic comment for Yaman’s blog. Thank you Yaman for trying to pre-empt the comment about your supporters anti-Semitism.
Thank you Yaman for inspiring more anti-Semitism.
(is that the nitwit?)