Obama - Coward or hypocrite?

I would just like to take a short break from the mashal, to deal with inyanei dyoma- our new President. As rational people we must base ourselves on facts, not magical thinking. Painful as it is, I think we must take two facts into account: 1) Obama's commitment to Global politics and 2) His decades long association with Rev. Wright and other extreme leftists.

At one time, these facts were at the top of our minds, now in the rush of boorish excitement all around us, a baseless Shichecha has set in. Eyes we have, but we see not, ears we have but we hear not. Are we to believe that there is no underlying cause to these facts? Are we to believe that some flowery inauguration speech will wash away a lifetime and mesorah of liberation theology?

If we honestly consider the fact of Obama's decades long association with liberation theology and the Antisemitic Rev. Wright we must conclude that America, Israel and Jews are in deep trouble. Obama is clearly either a hypocrite or both a hypocrite and a coward.

In the more likely scenario, that Obama has deep felt liberation Theology beliefs, he is a hypocrite for distorting this for political gain. We can be assured this restraint will not last long, as Rev Wright predicted, his old friend will arise once more.

Even if we take the absurdly charitable view, that Obama's stay in the anti Semitic church reflected no underlying agreement with liberation theology, but was purely for political access to a voting group, we must be profoundly troubled. What a coward and hypocrite this man must be! Is it rational to rely on the commitments of such an opportunist?

If Obama's stand on principle was too weak to prevent associating with the profoundly anti Semitic Rev. Wright when it was advantageous to advance the beginning steps of his career, what preventive power will his principles have when they stand in the way of realizing his life dream of Global policy? Surely the temptation to push Israel into disadvantage to curry favor in international standing, will be overwhelming. Is the cowardly hypocritical Obama going the take a principled stand on the global stage, when he could not even muster the nerve to do so in the warm comfort of his own Church when the stakes were infinitely smaller?

What kind of peace is such a person going to pursue? Are we to believe that the man who chose expediency over principle throughout his career, will take the principled stand with Israel, or rather the beneficial position that appeals to world liberation theology? Who exactly will Obama emotionally see as the one in need of "liberation"- the Jews or perhaps the darling "victim" of leftists everywhere- the Palestinians. I think we all know the answer...

Consider three articles:

Article #1

Poll: Israel and US Biggest Threats to World Peace

by Andrew Beatty

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Over half of Europeans think that Israel now presents the biggest threat to world peace according to a controversial poll requested by the European Commission.

According to the same survey, Europeans believe the United States contributes the most to world instability along with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and North Korea. . . .

The European Commission is coming under fire for publishing the results of a number of questions - relating to Iraqi reconstruction - while failing to publish the results which revealed the extent of mistrust of Israel and the United States in Europe, according to Spanish daily El Pais. . . .

The poll, conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres/ EOS Gallup Europe, was conducted between 8 and 16 of October.

Article #2

March 22, 2007

Barack Obama and Israel

By Ed Lasky

[editor's note: a substantially new and more complete article on the subject by Ed Lasky can be found here.]

Senator Barack Obama has become the rarest of politicians: a man who has seemingly come out of nowhere to ascend to the top rank of Democratic Presidential candidates. He has parlayed a unique life story, capitalizing on personal scandals that have destroyed his opponents, with an inspiring speaking style and heartwarming platitudes, to generate a great deal of support among Democratic partisans and independents.

His success is even more impressive when one considers that he has very little record to run on. He has been a United States Senator for only two years and much of that time has been spent promoting his books and his candidacy. However minimal, the fact is that he does have a record; not an easy one to uncover, yet a record nevertheless and one that should give pause to those who support the American-Israel alliance.

Obama's spiritual mentor

Obama has given a great deal of credit to the influence his church and his minister have had upon him. While his campaign has called his church the United Church of Christ and thus characterized it as just one of many mainstream churches within that denomination, it is in fact the Trinity United Church of Christ and follows a particularly Afro-centric view of Christianity, emphasizing a Black Work Ethic, commitment to a Black Value System, and an allegiance to all Black Leadership that follows the Black Value System. A brief review of its philosophy shows that this is not your everyday Christian parish and perhaps accounts for his campaign's dropping of the name "Trinity" when discussing his church membership.

This racialist belief system stands in stark contrast to Obama's rhetoric regarding the need and desirability of racial and religious inclusiveness. The church's principles seem to belie Obama's platitudes about the need for all people - of whatever race or religion - to come together as one. Recall this excerpt from his now legendary 2004 Democratic National Convention speech:

"There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America"

Given the anti-Semitism that is sadly so often associated with other leaders and groups that have emphasized black separatism and empowerment (think Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton) perhaps some qualms might be warranted, particularly given some of the actions and statements of the Church's minister.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is the long-time Pastor of Obama's church, and Obama has credited him as being an inspiration and guiding light for him. He is a spiritual mentor to Obama and coined the term the "audacity of hope" that Obama has essentially made a theme of his campaign as well as the title of a book. He also has, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, a militant past.

Moreover, Pastor Wright has beliefs that might disturb some of Obama's supporters. He is a believer in "liberation theology," which makes the liberation of the oppressed a paramount virtue. The language of liberation all too often veers off into anti-Jewish rants. For example, one of the founders of the movement, Gustavo Gutierrez, has stated that the infidelities of the Jewish people made the Old Covenant [between the Jews and God] invalid." Pastor Wright is also a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, and in 1984 traveled with him to visit Col. Muammar al-Gadaffi, an archenemy of Israel's and America and a firm supporter of terror groups.

Wright has also been a severe critic of Israel. In his own words,

The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now. It took a divestment campaign to wake the business community up concerning the South Africa issue. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community up and to wake Americans up concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.

Article #3

Obama vows he'll 'aggressively' seek Middle East peace

Jan. 22, 2009
hilary leila krieger, jpost correspondent in washington , THE JERUSALEM POST

Calling for border crossings into Gaza to be opened with "appropriate monitoring" to alleviate the humanitarian problems following Operation Cast Lead, US President Barack Obama declared on Thursday his intention to pursue peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

To that end, he announced during his first visit to the State Department that new envoy George Mitchell would soon be dispatched to the region to help ensure the cease-fire holds and to move forward on working with Israelis and Palestinians.

"Let me be clear: America is committed to Israel's security. And we will always support Israel's right to defend itself against legitimate threats," Obama said. "No democracy can tolerate such danger to its people, nor should the international community, and neither should the Palestinian people themselves."

He praised Egypt's role in helping to end the violence, and indicated that America would be committed to ending arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip.

"Just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians," he then added. "Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care."

To that end he called on Israel to open the border crossings and on the Palestinian Authority - helped with funds and support through an international donors conference - to a play a role along with the international community in monitoring the access points.

"It will be the policy of my administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and its Arab neighbors," he said.