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Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

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

Jewish World Review August 29, 2008 / 28 Menachem-Av 5768

Hillary's act of grace

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Listening to Hillary Clinton's warm-up act for Barack Obama at the Democrats' still slightly divided convention, it occurred that, if only the lady had been that graceful and gracious, that poised and personal, as in control of herself and her surroundings, and just generally as well-organized and focused during her long, long and almost, almost successful drive for her party's presidential nomination ... she herself would have been giving the acceptance speech at the Democrats' national convention.


Even through the distorting lens of the television camera, you could feel the same thought percolating through the convention itself. But it's too late now. The die has been cast, or rather the votes have been.


So there was Hillary Clinton, the presidential nominee who might have been, demonstrating that she would have been the better choice by showing how defeat had improved her. Life is just full of ironies. Defeat is the greatest of teachers but, as Senator Clinton demonstrated this year, its lessons may come too late.


Never mind. Hillary Clinton saw her duty Tuesday night — to her party, to herself — and she did it with a dearly earned dignity. From the first lines of her speech to the last, she plugged the young comer who somehow had managed to beat her and all the odds to grab the nomination. And she was just as forceful, and repetitious, all through her performance, punctuating it with Obama ads.


All right, the speech was mainly about her campaign and her life story, but what else could she have done? She's a politician, after all, and the Obama people can't complain about her repeated endorsements of their man, who is now, at least formally, hers.


The criticism that Hillary Clinton didn't devote her whole speech to describing her erstwhile opponent's life, deeds and shining virtues lacks a certain charity. What was she going to do, praise his many years of service — civil and military — to his country? His constancy of purpose when it comes to this or that issue he keeps finessing? His qualifications as commander in chief? Please. If she'd done that, she would have blown the credibility she's earned at such great sacrifice over these past 18 months.


Somewhere in her performance she went through her party's usual list of failed statist panaceas at home — think Hillarycare, think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and tried to slough off her own inconstancy in a war abroad. (Do you suppose she still assumes it would take a "willing suspension of disbelief" to think the Surge would work in Iraq? Tell it to the Marines.)


But all that was scarcely the essence of her appeal Tuesday night. All that was just boilerplate. What struck the listener was that Hillary Clinton had finally achieved, yes, a presidential presence. It was unmistakable. The lady had arrived — just in time to welcome another candidate as her party's nominee. But she's laid a strong foundation. You could almost see the numerals forming in her listeners' minds: 2012. But 2008 might have been her year if only she'd learned a little more a little sooner.


What thoughts must have been going through her always savvy husband's mind as he looked down on the scene, showing outward pride? Was he inwardly composing his own speech for the next night? Surely he would not have wanted to linger on the obvious — that if not for his own oafish role in his wife's campaign, and in other better-forgotten episodes, his spouse might be the one delivering the acceptance speech at this convention.


That's when a familiar thought occurred, the same thought I'd entertained so often during the long, dismal twilight of the Clintons' post-impeachment time in the White House as all the dreams were ground away. And this year they'd so yearned to return. What a tireless, intelligent, undiscourageable couple with so many (if mainly political) gifts.


The thought: Oh, what might have been!

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