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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 20, 2008 / 22 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

Job 1 for Obama: Governing from the center

By James Klurfeld


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Just as he reached out to the middle of the political spectrum to gain his inspiring and historic victory, President-elect Barack Obama will now have to build a center to govern. If anything, it will be an even more challenging job.


Obama won the presidency with the wind of a global financial collapse at his back and the nation ready for change. That takes nothing away from the magnificence of his victory. He took advantage of the situation as any talented politician would. But building a center from which to govern in hard times, when sacrifice will be necessary and unpopular choices unavoidable, is going to be much harder to accomplish. Now that he has become president-elect, that wind is in his face.


Obama acknowledged as much in his victory speech election night, when he said what must be done might not be accomplished in the first days of his administration, or the first years or even in a first term. And he said it will take shared sacrifice by the American people. No American politician has been willing to ask for sacrifice, real sacrifice, since President Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980.


Reagan's mantra was to cut taxes and reduce the size of government (except for the defense budget). President Bill Clinton's most controversial decision was to raise taxes in his first year in office, and many said the Democrats lost control of Congress as a result. President George W. Bush has tried to fight two wars without asking the people at home for a scintilla of sacrifice.


As I watched Obama eloquently talk to that throng of supporters in Chicago, I thought back to one of President John F. Kennedy's most-repeated lines from his inauguration speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It's been a long time since any president has been willing to challenge us in that way. But Kennedy was speaking in the context of the Cold War, when the outside challenge from communism made it easier to unite the country.


If I read Obama correctly, his instinct is to move to the center. A recent public television show, "Frontline," examined his approach as editor of the Harvard Law Review, the first black person to hold that position. He was elected at a time when Harvard Law School was bitterly divided by a liberal-conservative schism. He surprised - indeed angered - many of his liberal friends by appointing conservatives to positions on the review. Looking back on it now, one classmate says Obama was determined to put out an outstanding publication and to try to heal the ideological splits at the school.


Of all the serious misjudgments by Bush, one of the most consequential was to govern from the far right. His election in 2000 was so controversial that he should have moved toward the center, to lead a deeply divided nation. He didn't, and he will go down in history as a divider, not a uniter. Even after he had a second chance to pull the nation together after the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he chose the most controversial course by invading Iraq.


Our national politics took a bitter turn when Richard Nixon had to resign his presidency in 1974, and they have become increasingly negative. Obama's election can be a turning point. But the challenge for him is to go beyond finding common ground, since too often that just means finding the lowest common denominator. He must inspire the country to do things it has been reluctant to do - with health care, energy policy, how we relate to the world at a time of fiscal crisis, and making sure we don't saddle our children or grandchildren with unmanageable debt. That's going to take leadership.


His election is a magnificent moment in American history, a stunning accomplishment not just for Obama but for the country. But, clearly, even bigger jobs lie ahead. ___

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Comment by clicking here.

James Klurfeld is a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University.


Previously:

10/14/08: What about the economy Obama, McCain?
09/04/08: Palin stunningly wrong choice by McCain
05/01/08: Carter, Hart ... and Obama?
04/12/08: Election year politics and the cost of war
04/02/08: Time for a '30s-style government mortgage role
03/11/08: Power rightly belongs to Dem superdelegates
03/04/08: A neophyte looks like a pro, and vice versa
02/22/08: The allure of Obama for young people
02/19/08: Obama sounds good, but words aren't enough


© 2008, Newsday Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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