
 |
|
Nov. 25, 2009
JWisdom.com: No God … No You!
Know God, Know You! with Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (8 minutes)
Nov. 24, 2009
JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist
with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes)
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
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
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)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
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)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Feb. 29, 2008
/ 23 Adar I 5768
Weighing words for straight talk
By
Wesley Pruden
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
By If John McCain has a hard time figuring out how to run against a black man, he can take consolation from Barack Obama's dilemma. It won't be easy for him to campaign against a white man while remaining "black" enough to satisfy the 'hood.
Talking about race in America is perilous. Offenses are taken when none are intended. Much goes unspoken, but keenly felt. Slights quickly become snubs; nuance is taken for evasion. Casual conversation becomes deadly when every word must be weighed. Every sentence must be carefully parsed in an age where the precise use of language is held in low regard. The successful candidate this year may turn out to be the most eloquent apologizer-in-chief.
John McCain felt he had to apologize this week after one of his supporters, a radio talk-show host, insisted on calling Barack Hussein Obama by his full legal name, reminding everyone that some of the senator's roots are in Islam as well as in Africa. Mr. Obama was pressed to "reject" the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan after he remarked that he has "consistently denounced" anti-Jewish Farrakhan rants and rages. He "distanced" himself again from his pastor and mentor, who champions Minister Farrakhan as "a great man" and reveals himself to be someone who doesn't like white people very much.
When Mr. Obama was asked about the Farrakhan endorsement at their final debate Tuesday night, he snapped at Tim Russert, the interrogator: "Tim, I have to say I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting. If the word 'reject' that Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word 'denounce,' then I'm happy to concede the point and I would reject and denounce." Mr. Obama, as anyone might, prefaced his answers with several "ahs," "ummms" and "uhs," not exactly stammering but clearly demonstrating how uncomfortable he was and eager to get back to questions about health care, the war in Iraq, NAFTA and who hates George W. Bush the most.
Where will it all stop, and when can we get on with a debate for grown-ups? Certainly not before November, and therein lies the peril. Both nominees can decry it, but there's not much either can do to eliminate that peril while banging away at each other over genuine issues, neither pulling legitimate punches nor drowning everyone in mush and gruel.
| BUY THE BOOK … |
| 
at a discount by clicking HERE.
|
|
Shelby Steele suggests in his new book, "A Bound Man," that the senator, bound by the tangled web of race, can't succeed because by relieving whites of their guilt he will inevitably disappoint blacks who want him to sharply confront whites for the sins and shortcomings of yesteryear.
Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Britain where American politics is regarded as the game anyone can play argues that not only will Barack Obama fail to bridge the racial divide but will actually deepen it. "If Obama can succeed," he writes in Prospect magazine, "then maybe [guilt-ridden whites] can imagine that Martin Luther King's post-racial nirvana has arrived. A vote for Obama is a pain-free negation of their own racism ... so long as they don't have to live next door to him."
His diagnosis gets more depressing. "Obama may be helping to postpone the arrival of a post-racial America, and I think he knows it. If he wins, the cynicism may be worth it to him and his party. In the end, he is a politician and a very good one. His job is to win elections." The more "the bargainer" soothes middle-class whites, the more he irritates blacks who cotton to "challengers" like Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan, who wield power only as long as they can persuade their followers to remain "victims" of what Mr. Obama's pastor scorns as "the United States of White America."
John McCain, no doubt relieved that he won't have to run against a woman, has to weigh words and parse his respect to a black man while resisting paralysis to avoid offense, giving in to the temptation to play hug-me and kissy-face with Democrats. Republicans have done it before.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
Wesley Pruden Archives
© 2007 Wesley Pruden
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|