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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

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

Jewish World Review August 6, 2008 / 5 Menachem-Av 5768

Is Obama just too special to be elected president?

By Michael Graham


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Since the day Obama claimed the Democratic nomination, pundits and political pros have been waiting for him to take a significant lead in the polls. Here we are in August, and not only has Obama failed to get the Democrat's traditional summertime bump, he's tied with John McCain in the latest Gallup and Rasmussen polls.


In a lousy year for Republicans, against a GOP nominee who combines the youthful effervescence of Wilford Brimley with the soaring oratory of a life insurance seminar, Obama is actually losing ground.


Why?


Obama, sadly, blames race. It's all about evil Republicans, he claims, trying to scare voters by telling them "I don't look like those guys on the dollar bills" and "Did I mention he's black?"


The mainstream media blame the "vicious" and "negative" attack ads of the McCain campaign. The McCain campaign thinks i t's all about oil, gas prices and Obama's position on offshore drilling - whatever that may be at the moment.


But it was during a conversation with my radio listeners about Obama's birthday trip to Boston yesterday that I got a glimpse into the Chosen One's real problem. We were looking for the perfect gift for "The man who is everything" and I was suggesting the traditional items for someone of Obama's stature - gold, frankincense and myrrh. I was taken aback by the number of listeners who said the Democratic standard-bearer should get nothing because of a People magazine article about the Obama family's policy of not giving Christmas or birthday presents to their own two daughters.


I didn't bring that fact up. My listeners did, and it bothered them.


Now there's nothing necessarily wrong with parents not giving their kids birthday or holiday gifts, but it is, well, unusual. Do you know any parents like this? I don't. Then there was that speech in Berlin that was supposed to give Obama a big bounce. But his numbers went down instead.


Did Obama give a bad speech? No. But there was something just plain weird about watching a guy who wanted votes from Americans rallying 200,000 Germans in Berlin. It's not wrong. It's not unpatriotic. But no other presidential candidate in history has ever done anything like it.


And as sill y as it may sound, the Wall Street Journal just ran a story on supersized voters uncomfortable with the fact that Obama is so skinny. "He needs to put some meat on his bones," one voter said. Then again, this is the Obama who asked Iowa farmers, "Have you seen what they charge for arugula lately?"


Even his own daughter, revealing to "Access Hollywood" that her dad doesn't like ice cream, added: "Everybody should like ice cream."


Thanks to the strange trajectory of my life, from the tobacco fields of South Carolina to a radio studio in Boston, I've met people from all kinds of strange and colorful backgrounds. And I can honestly say I don't know anybody like Barack Obama.


His political career began at the home of an anti-American terrorist. His pastor for 20 years was the delusional, hate-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He barely won his own party's nomination, but his campaign designed its own presidential seal and has "President" printed across the back of his seat on his campaign jet.


And when he told congressional Democrats "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions," it might be true - but what kind of person would say that about himself? Would you?


Every day, it seems, Barack Obama does or says something that reminds "typical American people" (pardon the paraphrase) that he is different from us in ways that have nothing to do with what he looks like.

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.

JWR contributor Michael Graham is a talk show host at 96.9 FM TALK in Boston and author of the highly acclaimed "Redneck Nation: How the South Really Won the War." To comment, please click here.



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