blogger interrupted

Several people have pointed me to Tom Friedman’s piece in the NY Times today.  Friedman’s writing has always been part of my own personal syllabus (although his Iraq myopia went on way too long and got way too desperate), so people who know me tend to refer me to his columns. 

This paragraph caught my eye.

Yes, all of this Obama-mania is excessive and will inevitably be punctured should he win the presidency and start making tough calls or big mistakes. For now, though, what it reveals is how much many foreigners, after all the acrimony of the Bush years, still hunger for the “idea of America” — this open, optimistic, and, indeed, revolutionary, place so radically different from their own societies.

Having worked abroad in democracy development, before George W. Bush made that term poisonous, I have seen this hunger myself, with my own eyes, ears, and heart.  Like everything else Bush used for his own ends, he recognized this sentiment about the “idea of America,” and proceeded to squander it with incompetence, hubris, cynicism and stupidity.  

But the sentiment is still there, among our allies and enemies alike.  The “idea of America” is too powerful to be killed by one idiotic president who defecates all over it for 7 years.  Barack Obama poses a unique opportunity on this front, to rekindle the openness of that hunger, and allow it to be the asset it used to be, both for America and for our friends abroad.

The problem is, of course, the GOP will distort the undeniably positive sentiment abroad reflected in Friedman’s column to scare Jewish voters, Jews in general, Israel, and Israel’s supporters.  Well…duh.  In fact, every single aspect of Barack’s candidacy is so revolutionary, so different, so out of the realm of recent imagination, that he necessarily would have to go through such a gauntlet and defeat it.  

The only way the GOP and John McCain can beat Barack is to (this will sound familiar to Hillary) split and divide Americans based on their fears. The GOP is practically drooling over itself to exploit racial divisions, why should they shy away from doing the same thing with Jewish voters?

Jewish voters are not some monolithic bloc of votes.  Jewish voters have always split their electoral support among Republicans and Democrats.  There are Israel hard liners in both parties.  There are lefty liberal Jews who vote Republican over Israel, and there are hardline Zionist Jews who vote Democratic over social issues.  And there are super rich lefty reformed Jews who vote Republican because they’re in the country club set, and there are super rich conservative orthodox Jews who vote Democratic because they can’t stand the country club set.

In short, they are Americans.  Just like us.

Now, there certainly are Jewish voters who will respond to the Pavlovian stimulus the GOP will no doubt give them over how much ARABS LOVE OBAMA!  Those are the stupid ones.  Just like there are stupid, bigoted, racist Americans who drool when John McCain waves a KKK talking point in front of them, there are stupid, bigoted, racist Jewish voters who will do the same when John McCain puts the words “Arabs” and “Obama” in the same sentence.  

Again, just like the rest of us.

The good news is, like the broader American electorate that will decide this election, the vast majority of Jewish voters are not this stupid.  They, like the broader American electorate, can tell the difference between a pander and a reality.  Such Jewish voters, many of whom may still be undecided, will certainly know that there isn’t an iota’s difference between Barack Obama or John McCain on support for Israel.  They know that America will stand with Israel no matter who is president.  

But they will now have a choice to make this fall.   One candidate brings to the table a reservoir of unsolicited support abroad, among Israel’s enemies and friends alike, a candidate who will change the way America is perceived internationally, overnight.  The other candidate won’t.  One of those outcomes is better for Israel than the other. 

I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious.  

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