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March 15, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Father's obligations toward minor children
JWisdom.com Moody, Grumpy, Irritable Children with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Judith Graham: Get the whole picture before a CT
March 12, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: You CAN have Heaven on Earth
JWisdom.com Manufacturing mediums with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The march of the Red-Green brigades
March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
Kelly Brewington: Going smoke-free may raise diabetes risk
Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
Greg Logan: 'Greatest Jewish sporting event of all time since David versus Goliath' may be postponed because of bar mitzvah
Feb. 16, 2010
Anya Martin : Boy's 'cerebral palsy' fixed with diet
JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review Feb. 26, 2008 / 20 Adar I 5768

A visual whisper campaign

By Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The latest silly story in the campaign scrum involves a photo of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in Somali garb — a photo apparently distributed by opponent Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. No doubt, people who consider themselves far more thoughtful than the average news consumer regard such stories with a shudder as they pronounce with much self-satisfaction that the cheesy media should concentrate on comparing the health care proposals of the candidates.


Don't expect such high-mindedness here. This episode tells Americans a lot about two people who would be president, who essentially agree on major political issues but have drastically different ways of getting what they want. Their approach is important because the American people may be married for four or eight years to the tone a President Obama or a President Clinton set.


Besides, this story has pictures. The spat started after Clinton berated Obama for distorting her position on NAFTA. How is it even possible to distort Clinton's position on NAFTA? Now Clinton says she wants a trade-agreement timeout. But it's hard to trust what she says on NAFTA. After championing the measure among Democrats, President Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law during years that are included in Hillary Clinton's much-touted 35 years of experience. As the New York Times reported, Hillary Clinton now says the trade agreement "was negotiated" under the George H.W. Bush administration — airbrushing out the Clinton signature.


So it's hard to see how Team Obama could distort her distorted position. Saturday, Clinton denounced Obama's "tactics" and "behavior in this campaign" for releasing campaign material that charged her with supporting NAFTA. "Shame on you," quoth Clinton.


Monday, the Obama-with-a-turban photo surfaced online on the Drudge Report. Matt Drudge credited Camp Clinton. Camp Clinton denied distributing the photo. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told Politico.com that the photo represented "shameful offensive fear-mongering." Clintonista Maggie Williams riposted, by releasing this statement: "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.


"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry."


I want to credit Democrats for being consistent. For years they've been the overly sensitive party — quick to see any treatment that singles out a Democrat as sexist or racist. Pundits made much ado when Hillary got teary-eyed in New Hampshire? Sexism. Voters demand that the federal government enforce immigration laws? Racism. The media scrutinize Clinton's record more than Obama's record? Sexism.


(Obama refers to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's "half century of service to this country." Age-ism. Oops. Take that back. The Republican can't be a victim.)


Hillary Clinton has made a career out of being a victim and her staffers have honed playing the victim card. That's why you see articles about whether the media are tolerant of sexism, but not racism.


I have to figure that Clintonia is rolling the dice. Her campaign is flailing. Being nice didn't bump Clinton's numbers. Along comes a photo that is just a photo of Obama visiting Africa and dressing like the locals, as both tourists and politicians are wont to do. And also a reminder that Obama might seem too exotic to some voters. It's the wordless way of whispering: Is America ready for a black president?


The real question is: Does America want four years of a shameless victim in chief?

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© 2007, Creators Syndicate

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