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Dec. 3, 2008
Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning
Don Terry: Lifetime, no see
Dec. 2, 2008
Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack
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!)
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Jewish World Review
January 8, 2008
1 Shevat 5768
President Obama? At the very least, he's certainly no race huckster and that's why they haven't embraced him
By
Michael Goodwin
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"Let's go change the world" is the battle cry of Barack Obama's inspiring stump speech, and his army of supporters is on the march. Like their leader, they are young and idealistic, determined to shape a new political order. Hear him talk, hear them roar and you quickly get the point. Theirs is not a political campaign. It's a movement, a revolution, a crusade even.
His Iowa troops turned out in record numbers, 100,000 more than in 2004, shattering the predictions that only veteran caucusgoers would show up to support Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. Obama even beat Clinton among women and among those who view health care as the top issue, her supposed political safety net.
Unless Obama screws up before Tuesday, the Iowa bounce should carry him to victory in New Hampshire. The hardest part in the race for the nomination would be over. His dream, their dream, is in sight.
And so, just as clearly, are the questions. Is America ready for that much change? Is America ready to elect a black President? Yes and maybe.
Start with the dramatic change Obama vows, the coin of the realm now in both parties. The Bush years have few friends, yet Clinton cautiously positioned herself as a bridge between them and the future. But voters don't seem to want halfway measures, and suddenly the entire rationale for her candidacy is on life-support.
Her experience has become a liability in the current climate, which Obama helped to create with his powerful orations and clever arguments. The "Change We Can Believe In" signs at his events exploit the doubts about her the trust issue while also attacking her claim that she is a change agent. He argues that her experience has proven only that she has bad judgment. He compares her with George Bush. Ouch.
He has used the same jujitsu on her pitch to return to the days of the Clinton presidency, reminding voters she was central to the rancid partisanship that continues to divide us. Who wants that again, he asks?
Even Edwards, an Obama threat because he splits the anti-Clinton vote, could ultimately help him. Iowa was probably Edwards' high-water mark, and when he gets out of the race, Obama will get most of his support.
Those are the political logistics, but there is still the question of whether Obama's youth he's 46, Clinton is 60 and his inexperience will get in the way. They won't, provided he doesn't get wacky or careless under the pressure of being the front-runner.
So far, his charisma and the enthusiasm of his supporters have given him license to be vague. He has used the freedom to push the envelope, saying, for example, he would talk without conditions to Iran and North Korea. It looked like a gaffe at first, and any other candidate would be pilloried. He got away with it because it proved he would be different. He has to be careful, though, that being different doesn't suggest he's dangerous.
Which leaves the racial question. Is America ready to demolish that taboo?
It's a huge hurdle, higher than the one Clinton presents in trying to become the first female President. But I believe that if Obama is the nominee and if the country wants big change in November as much as it does now, Obama can shatter that barrier, too.
Part of the reason is that race is not central to his identity or campaign. That he is of mixed race and a product of top schools Columbia and Harvard is reassuring to many whites, probably more so than to blacks, who have been slow to warm to his candidacy.
Obama has used that to his advantage, too. Unlike Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, race men to their cores who have not embraced him, Obama has run a campaign based on unity, not interest-group grievance. He talks of national hope and healing ideological divides, which include race, but are not limited to it. He seamlessly evokes the great moments of American history, from Valley Forge to Selma, without drawing distinctions among us. In his words, the civil rights triumphs belong to all of us.
Sure, it's a bit sappy and might even be a mirage. But for now, Obama is offering the kind of distinctly American Dream that only rarely appears in politics. In his hands, it might just have the power to change the world.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.
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