Home
In this issue
Nov. 25, 2009
Daniel Pipes: Islamism 2.0
JWisdom.com: No God … No You! Know God, Know You! with Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (8 minutes)
Nov. 24, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran : The Atheists' unintended gift
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
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)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review January 10, 2008 / 3 Shevat 5768

Barack Obama: Feeling good

By Cal Thomas


Printer Friendly Version
Email this article

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Politicians don't usually get me excited, but Barack Obama does. Maybe it's the contrast between him and the elocutionally-challenged President Bush. Having lived through and reported on the Civil Rights movement, perhaps the source of my euphoria is the possibility of a black man being taken seriously as a presidential candidate when just four decades ago in America he would have been barred from certain hotels, restrooms, lunch counters and neighborhoods. Electing Obama, some rationalize, might be the propitiation for our racist sins; a fulfillment of Dr. King's dream about judging a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.


There is a double standard still applied to black people in America, however. The media and "black leadership" play down the accomplishments of a Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice because of their associations with the Republican Party (though Powell was also associated with the Clinton administration, he remains a Republican) while Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Barack Obama are lionized because their liberal policy positions comport with most of those in the media, academia and the rest of the liberal establishment.


If you read Obama's record, however, you'll find his positions differ little from those of Hillary Clinton. According to a compilation of the voting records and position statements of Clinton and Obama (available at www.2decide.com/table.htm) the two senators hold identical positions on nearly every issue. From abortion on demand (support), to the war in Iraq (for withdrawal and against the troop surge), embryonic stem cell research, gun control and plenty more, both candidates are joined at the ideological hip.


FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER

Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here.


The difference is that Obama makes us feel good and Hillary Clinton doesn't. Obama has the prettier family portrait. As with JFK, who doesn't long to see children romping around the White House? That would make our youth-obsessed Baby Boomers feel young again, an objective that occupies increasing amounts of their time.


Ronald Reagan made many feel good, but he had a well-developed sense of who he was and what he wanted to do (defeat the Soviets, cut taxes, reduce the size and reach of government). Obama's chief foreign policy position seems to center around talking to Islamic leaders rather than defeating radical Islam. Does he seriously believe people who think they have a religious mandate for wiping out America and dominating the world would negotiate anything less? Talking does not pacify an enemy; an enemy must be defeated. Any goal that is less than victory is naive in the extreme.


I admire Obama's rhetoric about changing the tone in Washington and seeking consensus to overcome corrosive polarization. But consensus requires compromise. On which of his liberal positions would Obama compromise? Abortion? Taxes? Growing government? He hasn't said. Maybe if he gets the nomination he will. One plays to one's base (in his case a very liberal base) during primary season and then races toward the middle after receiving the nomination.


Others before Obama have come to Washington with the announced intention of "changing the tone." No one changes Washington. Washington changes them. The Congress, of which Obama is now only a freshman member with no legislation he can point to that has his name on it, checks and balances legislation proposed by the chief executive. No president can dictate policy. Hillary Clinton failed in her attempt to impose universal health care on the country when a Democratic-majority Congress refused to go along.


Flirtations are fun and make people feel good, but at a time of turmoil in the world and serious threats to our nation, to indulge in feelings over substance can be costly. The last time we put feelings first, we got Bill Clinton (and before him, Jimmy Carter). President Clinton mostly ignored the terrorist threat, preferring instead his own physical satisfaction. That preference contributed to 9/11. Don't we have it backward? Shouldn't a president's policies make us feel good?


To promote feelings instead of policy is pure self-indulgence. We can't afford that luxury in a president.

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.


BUY THE BOOK
Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.).

Cal Thomas Archives

JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.

© 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Insight (Our Columnists)

 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

'Toons
 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

Lifestyles
 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