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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 8, 2008 / 8 Elul 5768

Romancing the vote

By Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The 2008 Republican National Convention had too much in common with the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. That's where presidential candidate John Kerry talked endlessly about his military service - to the point where people would joke, "Hey did you know that John Kerry served in Vietnam?" Nor did Teresa Heinz Kerry — the Massachusetts senator's heiress second wife — set delegates on fire. By that convention's end, the crowd clearly lacked gusto for their nominee and the campaign ahead.


Last week in St. Paul, the Republican convention dwelled too long on McCain's POW status — and, yes, he is a true hero — and McCain's wife didn't seem to connect with the delegates. There was less hoopla after McCain's speech than after that of his running mate, Sarah Palin.


Like Kerry, John McCain seemed stuck in the past. He didn't talk about America's future as much as he should have. His campaign team made the convention too personal — too much about McCain, too little about his vision on how he would govern. The best political speeches start at Point A and end up at Point C, D or even E. There is an argument, a purpose, an attempt to persuade.


In his speech, McCain, like too many politicians, served up a jumble of letters, embellished with cutesy sentences that served as shorthand for the larger arguments he failed to articulate:


"All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way," for small government.


"We're all G-d's children, and we're all Americans," for the immigration debate.


"We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much," as a stand-in for a foreign policy discussion.


This does not serve him well. There are voters out there who wonder: If McCain is elected, will his emphasis be on economics or social issues? What are the things he thinks government should do, and what can it not do? What, if anything, does McCain have to offer to Libertarian-leaning Republicans?


McCain has advocated cutting corporate taxes to create jobs. But he doesn't make the case. He uses one statistic — that America's business tax rate is the second-highest in the world — and leaves it at that.


McCain surrogates frequently dismissed Barack Obama, saying America doesn't need dramatic speeches. Maybe America doesn't need them, but McCain does. He ought to think of the next eight weeks as a first date. It's not enough to throw out a series of pickup lines. You have to throw in a little romance. And you don't spend dinner talking about yourself.

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© 2008, Creators Syndicate

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