 |
|
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
August 5, 2008
/ 4 Menachem-Av 5768
Politics as usual
By
Cal Thomas
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
At the beginning of this long political season — if there ever was a beginning, since campaigns are now nonstop with only the players changing — it appeared this one might, just might, be different.
Barack Obama, the biracial candidate would be the transracial healer. He promised to seek common ground with Republicans for the betterment of the country.
John McCain, too, was the reach-out candidate with a record of working with "the other side," to the consternation of many conservatives, but to the delight of independents who, say the experts, are essential to a McCain victory.
For the doubtful, which are those of us who have observed politics for a few decades, it all seemed too good to be true. And now politics as usual has proved too true to be good. The pettiness, the tearing down and the irrelevance of the political dialogue resembles so many other distasteful presidential campaigns. Obama was the first to use the "race card," claims McCain. No, he wasn't, says Obama. McCain was. One wishes some adult would step in and say, "children, go to your rooms."
| 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. |
|
This is what passes for modern political discourse. Conservative says to liberal: "You're ruining America." Liberal responds, "No, you're ruining America." Conservative: "You're a communist." Liberal: You're a fascist." Conservative: "You're a secular humanist." Liberal: "You're a Bible-thumping bigot." Host of cable program: "We'll be back with more civil discussion after these messages."
Do these guys really believe what they're saying about each other? If so, perhaps we need two different candidates.
When McCain first proposed a series of town hall meetings with no journalists, Obama said it was a good idea. But then Obama, or his handlers, apparently thought better of it. His camp has agreed only to the three scheduled fall debates, presided over by journalists, many of whom see themselves as co-equal with the candidates.
Apparently, the Obama camp thinks it can preserve its small lead in most polls by not giving McCain too many platforms. How does this conform to Obama's image of conciliation and working together?
That image is beginning to unravel. The Weekly Standard reports on Obama's "lost years" as a state legislator, noting he was the antithesis of the cross-aisle conciliator. "Obama is bipartisan so long as that means asking Republicans to take incremental steps toward his own broader goals," writes Stanley Kurtz. "When it comes to compromising with the other side, however, Obama says 'take a hike.'"
"The real Obama? ... Fundamentally, he is a big-government redistributionist," says Kurtz, who offers examples of Obama's partisan Illinois legislative record. Included are his writings for and coverage by two Chicago publications, the Hyde Park Herald, Chicago's oldest community newspaper, and the Chicago Defender, once the nation's most influential African-American daily.
Combing through the archives of those newspapers, Kurtz concludes, "What they portray is a Barack Obama sharply at variance with the image of the post-racial, post-ideological, bipartisan, culture-war-shunning politician familiar from current media coverage and purveyed by the Obama campaign. As details of Obama's early political career emerge into the light, his associations with such radical figures as Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, Reverend James Meeks, Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn look less like peculiar instances of personal misjudgment and more like intentional political partnerships. At his core, in other words, the politician chronicled here is profoundly race-conscious, exceedingly liberal, free-spending even in the face of looming state budget deficits, and partisan. Elected president, this man would presumably shift the country sharply to the left on all the key issues of the day, culture-war issues included. It's no wonder Obama has passed over his Springfield years in relative silence."
Now there is substance worthy of debate. How does Obama's liberalism apply to energy, fighting terrorism, the economy, taxes, spending, health care and the proper role of government? And given Obama's past history of refusing to compromise on anything important, why should voters accept his "makeover"?
As for McCain, who does have a record of compromising, on what issues would he hold fast and never compromise?
These are important questions that ought to be at the center of the presidential contest. Unfortunately, they have been replaced with the silly, irrelevant and juvenile. This is not what the public was promised.
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.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|
