It was estimated that 80% of the Jewish vote went for the Democratic candidate in 2000, and 75% went Democratic in 2004. While an early American Jewish Committee poll of Jewish voters showed 57% of the Jewish vote going for Obama (with the expectation of 10 points of growth), the final MSNBC exit poll reports that 78% of the Jewish vote went Democratic on Tuesday.
Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to come and fix it.
Joe drives to Obama’s house, which is located in a very nice neighborhood and where it’s clear that all the residents make more than $250,000 per year.
Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the room that contains the leaky pipe under a sink. Joe assesses the problem and tells Obama, who is standing near the door, that it’s an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes.
Obama asks Joe how much it will cost.
Joe immediately says, “$9,500.”
$9,500?” Obama asks, stunned. “But you said it’s an easy repair!”
“Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than $250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing of everybody who makes less than that for free,” explains Joe. “It’s always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way. It’s known as ‘Joe’s Fair Plumbing Act of 2008.’ Surprised you haven’t heard of it, senator.”
In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there’s no way he’s paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Joe leaves.
Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book looking for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses listed have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Joe’s price, Obama does nothing.
The leak under Obama’s sink goes unrepaired for the next several days.
A week later the leak is so bad that Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there’s a risk that the room will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleads with him to return.
Joe goes back to Obama’s house, looks at the leaky pipe, and says “Let’s see – this will cost you about $21,000.”
“A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!” Obama quickly fires back.
Joe explains the reason for the dramatic increase. “Well, because of the ‘Joe’s Fair Plumbing Act,’ a lot of rich people are learning how to fix their own plumbing, so there are fewer of you paying for all the free plumbing I’m doing for the people who make less than $250,000. As a result, the rate I have to charge my wealthy paying customers rises every day.
“Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work from the group of people who get it for free has skyrocketed, and there’s a long waiting list of those who need repairs. This has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, and they’re not being replaced – nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they won’t make any money. I’m hurting now too – all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won’t pay their fair share.”
Obama tries to straighten out the plumber: “Of course you’re hurting, Joe! Don’t you get it? If all the rich people learn how to fix their own plumbing and you refuse to charge the poorer people for your services, you’ll be broke, and then what will you do?”
I don’t get it. U.S. senators do not make over $250,000. They earn under $170K a year. They also usually maintain two residences, one in their home state, and one in the DC Washington DC MSA. And why would a plumber run for President if he or she has never held a political office or governed? I also find it peculiar that other plumbers would have gone out of business, since there are so many professional licensed plumbers and journeyman and apprentices. Not to mention all the Israeli immigrants and tourists in the USA who work as locksmiths and moonlight as unlicensed plumbers, I think that someone resourceful would have been able to find a person to fix a leak at a reasonable price. That is the beauty of the market economy which also has regulations to also consider the social costs of consumer decisions.
Oh, you mean Joe, the unlicensed plumber who makes $40k/year and doesn’t pay his taxes? The one opposed to anybody else getting his money because they might be poor, but sure enjoys having other, far richer people spread their wealth around to him? Duly noted, sir.
Larry, they likely make way more as they are not uncommonly members of supervisory boards of listed companies, which usually have politicians as well as union members on their boards. We shouldn’t fool ourselves; politicians from all political realms saw the economic crisis coming and still filled their coffers.
The concern with Obama’s economic policy over here is that his proposed limitations to foreign imports, which he suggested will stabilize jobs, will lead to a breakdown of US industries (which highly depend on foreign imports of raw materials and semi-finished goods to produce finished goods for export) and eventually seriously impact transatlantic trade (which the US also depends on, being second only to Germany in gross per capita exports). Wouldn’t be too good for the global market place, but in the immediate future, industrialists over here expect a decline in US industrial production and strengthening of their global market position.
BTW, there are a lot of unlicensed plumbers working in NYC.
Having advocated his candidacy since Middle conceded Hillary’s defeat, Jewlicious now faces the duty of having Barack’s back in the foreign policy and defense challenges to come. Well, you were the ones you were waiting for, or something like that. Best wishes for the next four (or eight) years.
I thought we reported about him. And on occasion I let loose on Republicans. But advocated? I still haven’t voted for him in our survey post.
In any case, his speech last night was superb. If he can actually keep to the spirit of that speech, he’ll be a great President. And you know it will be 8 years, not 4. That guy knows how to run a campaign and as an incumbent he’ll be formidable.
By the way, if I counted right, there will be 13 Jewish senators and about 31 or 32 Jewish Congress members.
Four years will probably not be enough time for the Republicans to recoup (think: Mondale ’84). On the other hand, Obama may be in his greatest electoral danger in ’12 as the world slowly makes its way out of the economic thicket.
As for his speech– yeah, it was good. He’s always been good at speeches. I thought McCain, ironically, conveyed the history of the moment more effectively. He had the critical, perhaps even greater challenge of losing well to the first black president.
Well, let’s hope Obama isn’t the guy he appears to be and that he was lying to all of his racist and PLO friends just to get elected. That is, let’s hope he is as corrupt a politician as he appears to be. They usually go back on their word, so maybe there’s some hope.
But, Jayzus, 80% of the Yidden voted for this guy? Man.
Like I said, where did we get the idea that we were so much smarter than the goyim? I can’t see it, myself.
Gotta say, though, it was amazing that McCain got as close as he did, considering the piss-poor campaign he ran.
PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA PICKS ZIONIST AS CHIEF OF STAFF
President-elect Barack Obama reportedly selected Congressmen Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) as White House chief of staff. Emanuel was offered the job but it is not known if he accepted.
My 10 year old learned from his peers in Yeshiva today that “now that a Muslim is going to be President and be sworn-in on the Koran, Israel is going to be blown-up because he is going to let all the other countries attack Israel, but that it is still possible that the electoral college will find out he is not an American citizen or he will be assassinated before he is sworn in, imyertz Hashem”.
Professor Walt (who as we know co-blew The Lobby’s cover) has a lovely post out there congratulating the president-elect. Why won’t Ephraim and his ilk share this euphoric feeling of oneness that’s got the rest of us dancing?
Chutzpah: It sounds like your son is in a rough yeshiva and rubbing shoulders with a bunch of undesirables. Before he joins some kind of radical Jewish gang, get him out of there.
My son is in an extremist,fundamentalist Yeshiva run by bal tshuvas. Negotiating his release from that place with my born-again, fanatic, zealous ex-husband would take more time, money and diplomacy skills than negotiating peace in the Middle East. I’ve been trying for 7 years.
Fortunately, they shove so much hypocrisy and dogma down his throat that by the time he is 18 he will be ready to puke it all up and walk away from it, as his sisters will have already done before him.
Looks like the republicans are falling apart pretty quickly. Muffti hopes this is false and just vicious rumour from the McCain camp but if it’s true, the woman who could have been vice president is nothing short of a complete ignoramus. Muffti liked watching Bill O try to smooth over things (‘ok, so she doens’t know any geography, current events, the constitution…’)
Muffti also likes that the reporter Carl managed to throw in the word ‘nailing’…a subtle reference to the porn that came otu a while back entitled ‘Nailin’ Palin’?
The republicans have a real chance here to reform and regroup, to drop all the anti-science creationist bullshit, to stop trying to make education a defect rather than a problem, expunge the homophobia and the defend all things jesus and present themselves as a party who has a sensible take on fiscal responsibiility with a hard line on terror. Otherwise, they may as well sit around and pray that the Dems really fuck things up or its gonna be a lot of lean years for those bums.
Andrew Sullivan thinks that the Repubs are going through a longterm phase of introspection, reminiscent of that which the British Tories went through and are still going through. As someone who grew up there, he might know. I’m with you on all their faults re: theocratic impulses and anti-empiricism, but those concerns might perhaps be too esoteric (well, at least the latter is) to your average voter. The debate on how to keep themselves from continuing to hemorrhage support from youth is on, and being held most honestly by younger conservatives such as Ross Douthat and Reihan Salaam. Whether that conversation attracts broader attention from party bosses, however, is as of yet an unanswered question.
As for Palin’s ignorance, I guess that depends on whether or not you think it is just a passable mistake to confuse Africa with an actual country:
I would be pretty sad if the right fell prey to utter intellectual bankrupcy all the way through, but with guys like Michael Weiss at Jewcy and elsewhere hopefully they can do what they must to find a way to stem the freefall. But my take is that it will take even more intellectual honesty and exploration than we are getting. A lot of what they’ve been trying to sell just doesn’t seem to be what US voters are interested in buying. They really need to re-work what they’re offering to fit within a post-cold war, post-industrial, high-tech world, IMO.
Whiteboy, if you were able to read with comprehension, yoju would have seen that my post was a jab aimed at Jews (and our ridiculously inflated belief in our own mental superiority), not at goyim. And goyim is not a swearword, although it’s pretty obvious you think it is. It just means “nations”.
But, hey, there always seem to be Whiteboys around to prove that maybe we are smarter than people like you.
And by “people like you” I mean stupid people, not gentiles.
Batya’s right re: State. And they’ve always been Arabists. Just look what happened to Condi Rice once she got over there. She might as well be drawing her salary from Ramallah.
I wonder what Obama’s “test” is going to be? My guess is perhaps Lebanon, where Syria (that is to say Iran) has its tanks right up against the border. I wonder if Syria (that is to say, Iran) will give the Go signal on Jan., 21, 2009 or have the decency to wait a week or two.
Muffti thinks that those concerns ARE too esoteric for the average voter. They are too complex for most of us. But Muffti wasn’t really saying how they should sell themselves but how they should, in Muffti’s opinion, orient themselves and what philosophy they will adopt as a party. Then they can get people with silky voices and nice no more than bi-syllabic words to explain things like anti-empiricism (i.e. ‘we like science and not just when it makes weapons!’) As a professor, Muffti can only hope that this ridiculous anti-intellectualism will be a thing of the past and a mutual appreciation can be reconciled between groups that have been so divided (and, who, in fairness, have really let themsevles be divided).
Or maybe ideally that party will split in 2, one representing the lunatic fringe and one representing a real centrist party that can take a bite out of the democrats and the USA will have a real viable democracy with multiple parties and a choice of options (plus a much diminished ability to run divide a conquer strategies that the republicans have run so effectively for so many years: abortion, race, immigration…as way of dividing democrats). Who kknows. It’s a tough time for them but it represents an interesting opportunity.
Hey guys,
My name is Avinoam and I am a volunteer at the American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS program.
We know from the exit polls how the Jewish community voted yesterday, but there is no way to tell how the younger Jewish community voted. EXCEPT …the ACCESS Survey. Make your voice heard and take our poll at http://www.ajc.org/access.
Also, we are co-sponsoring an important black-Jewish dialogue right before the inaguration over MLK weekend. Check it out at nolaconference.blogspot.com
Thanks,
Avi
The USA will have as viable a democracy as it always has (or has not had, depending on your point of view). Since the inception of the two-party system in its current form, power, at least at the presidential level, has switched between the Dems and the GOP in 40-year cycles. From 1868 to 1928, 7 administrations were Republican and 3 were Democratic. From 1928 to 1968, 7 administrations were Democratic and 3 were Republican. From 1968 to 1928, 7 administrations were Republican and 3 were Democratic. My friend (who also works in an empirical field) thinks I’m reading too much into these patterns, but taking them seriously at least gives the GOP some time to figure their shit out (and methinks they have A LOT of shit to figure out), as well as giving the Dems some time to feel proud of the positive impact that they might actually be able to have on American government for the first time in a generation.
Both the tragic events of 1968 and our response and the systemic reactions to them split the country in a horrible way that we might just now finally be coming to terms with.
Third parties come and go in America and serve their purpose but the system is too far rigged against the ultimate success of any one of them as a permanent structural component.
Ephraim, the Biden remark about being ‘tested’ involved a briefing Obama received from US intelligence services, to the effect that chatter had been picked up about a terror attack roughly to coincide with The One’s taking office– that according to the UK Telegraph newspaper.
If it’s not jihadist violence, I’ll speculate Iran will disclose it’s developed nuclear weapons, and/or my personal favorite– Russia announces it’s annexing the Crimea.
And the first one should have been from “1888 to 1928”. Can’t remember how it went in the twenty years before, but the Republicans still had a powerful hold on the office in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Still really tired today and not yet recovered from a serious cold.
Ephraim, Sect. of State Rice worked for the most Pro-Israel Administration the U.S. has ever had. If you weren’t happy with her performance, nothing short of moving to Israel and being stationed on some boarder with an Uzi is going to please you.
Why do you have such an overblown sense of entitlement that the U.S. Government and people owe Israel so much? That the U.S. has a proud history of allowing large numbers of Jews to immigrate here as free people who enjoyed all the benefits of full citizenship is not enough? What other country has been as good to it’s Jews and Israel as the U.S.A.?
Yes, while Rice worked for Bush directly, she faithfully worked to implement Bush’s policies, which were clearly very pro-Israel. For this, I think Israel, and Jews, owe Bush a debt of gratitude.
Once Rice went to State, that all changed. It just seems to happen that way. Must be something in the water at Foggy Bottom.
In any case, let me repeat what I have said umpteen times before: if I thought that withdrawing from most of the “West Bank”, and even the Golan, would bring real peace, I would support it, albeit reluctantly. I don’t know how many times I have to say this.
But since it is obvious that nothing of the sort will happen, I oppose it, and any administration that tries to browbeat Israel into withdrawing while not applying the same pressure on the Arabs to stop shooting is, by definition, an anti-Israel administration.
Is black-Jewish dialogue ever anything less than urgently required? And surely no more so than now, with the extremely disturbing report that as many as 22% of Jewish-American voters did not cast their ballots for Barack.
It makes me wonder if the sad legacy of pain and injustice can ever be overcome….
Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to come and fix it.
Joe drives to Obama’s house, which is located in a very nice neighborhood and where it’s clear that all the residents make more than $250,000 per year.
Joe arrives and takes his tools into the house. Joe is led to the room that contains the leaky pipe under a sink. Joe assesses the problem and tells Obama, who is standing near the door, that it’s an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes.
Obama asks Joe how much it will cost.
Joe immediately says, “$9,500.”
$9,500?” Obama asks, stunned. “But you said it’s an easy repair!”
“Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than $250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing of everybody who makes less than that for free,” explains Joe. “It’s always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way. It’s known as ‘Joe’s Fair Plumbing Act of 2008.’ Surprised you haven’t heard of it, senator.”
In spite of that, Obama tells Joe there’s no way he’s paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Joe leaves.
Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book looking for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses listed have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Joe’s price, Obama does nothing.
The leak under Obama’s sink goes unrepaired for the next several days.
A week later the leak is so bad that Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there’s a risk that the room will flood, so Obama calls Joe and pleads with him to return.
Joe goes back to Obama’s house, looks at the leaky pipe, and says “Let’s see – this will cost you about $21,000.”
“A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!” Obama quickly fires back.
Joe explains the reason for the dramatic increase. “Well, because of the ‘Joe’s Fair Plumbing Act,’ a lot of rich people are learning how to fix their own plumbing, so there are fewer of you paying for all the free plumbing I’m doing for the people who make less than $250,000. As a result, the rate I have to charge my wealthy paying customers rises every day.
“Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work from the group of people who get it for free has skyrocketed, and there’s a long waiting list of those who need repairs. This has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, and they’re not being replaced – nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they won’t make any money. I’m hurting now too – all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won’t pay their fair share.”
Obama tries to straighten out the plumber: “Of course you’re hurting, Joe! Don’t you get it? If all the rich people learn how to fix their own plumbing and you refuse to charge the poorer people for your services, you’ll be broke, and then what will you do?”
Joe immediately replies, “Run for president.”
I don’t get it. U.S. senators do not make over $250,000. They earn under $170K a year. They also usually maintain two residences, one in their home state, and one in the DC Washington DC MSA. And why would a plumber run for President if he or she has never held a political office or governed? I also find it peculiar that other plumbers would have gone out of business, since there are so many professional licensed plumbers and journeyman and apprentices. Not to mention all the Israeli immigrants and tourists in the USA who work as locksmiths and moonlight as unlicensed plumbers, I think that someone resourceful would have been able to find a person to fix a leak at a reasonable price. That is the beauty of the market economy which also has regulations to also consider the social costs of consumer decisions.
Oh, you mean Joe, the unlicensed plumber who makes $40k/year and doesn’t pay his taxes? The one opposed to anybody else getting his money because they might be poor, but sure enjoys having other, far richer people spread their wealth around to him? Duly noted, sir.
Anyway. I wish there was a way to compare voter turn-out among Jewish people. It would be really interesting to see.
Larry, they likely make way more as they are not uncommonly members of supervisory boards of listed companies, which usually have politicians as well as union members on their boards. We shouldn’t fool ourselves; politicians from all political realms saw the economic crisis coming and still filled their coffers.
The concern with Obama’s economic policy over here is that his proposed limitations to foreign imports, which he suggested will stabilize jobs, will lead to a breakdown of US industries (which highly depend on foreign imports of raw materials and semi-finished goods to produce finished goods for export) and eventually seriously impact transatlantic trade (which the US also depends on, being second only to Germany in gross per capita exports). Wouldn’t be too good for the global market place, but in the immediate future, industrialists over here expect a decline in US industrial production and strengthening of their global market position.
BTW, there are a lot of unlicensed plumbers working in NYC.
Having advocated his candidacy since Middle conceded Hillary’s defeat, Jewlicious now faces the duty of having Barack’s back in the foreign policy and defense challenges to come. Well, you were the ones you were waiting for, or something like that. Best wishes for the next four (or eight) years.
We advocated for Obama?
I thought we reported about him. And on occasion I let loose on Republicans. But advocated? I still haven’t voted for him in our survey post.
In any case, his speech last night was superb. If he can actually keep to the spirit of that speech, he’ll be a great President. And you know it will be 8 years, not 4. That guy knows how to run a campaign and as an incumbent he’ll be formidable.
By the way, if I counted right, there will be 13 Jewish senators and about 31 or 32 Jewish Congress members.
Four years will probably not be enough time for the Republicans to recoup (think: Mondale ’84). On the other hand, Obama may be in his greatest electoral danger in ’12 as the world slowly makes its way out of the economic thicket.
As for his speech– yeah, it was good. He’s always been good at speeches. I thought McCain, ironically, conveyed the history of the moment more effectively. He had the critical, perhaps even greater challenge of losing well to the first black president.
He had the critical, perhaps even greater challenge of losing well to the first black president.
Good point!
Well, let’s hope Obama isn’t the guy he appears to be and that he was lying to all of his racist and PLO friends just to get elected. That is, let’s hope he is as corrupt a politician as he appears to be. They usually go back on their word, so maybe there’s some hope.
But, Jayzus, 80% of the Yidden voted for this guy? Man.
Like I said, where did we get the idea that we were so much smarter than the goyim? I can’t see it, myself.
Gotta say, though, it was amazing that McCain got as close as he did, considering the piss-poor campaign he ran.
Let’s hope the buyer’s remorse isn’t too bad.
OH NO!!!
PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA PICKS ZIONIST AS CHIEF OF STAFF
President-elect Barack Obama reportedly selected Congressmen Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) as White House chief of staff. Emanuel was offered the job but it is not known if he accepted.
My humble musical letter to president Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4bZw9FmXZ4
Best,
Hannah Friedman
My 10 year old learned from his peers in Yeshiva today that “now that a Muslim is going to be President and be sworn-in on the Koran, Israel is going to be blown-up because he is going to let all the other countries attack Israel, but that it is still possible that the electoral college will find out he is not an American citizen or he will be assassinated before he is sworn in, imyertz Hashem”.
He learns such nice things there.
Julie… Chincillas are the cutest!
Professor Walt (who as we know co-blew The Lobby’s cover) has a lovely post out there congratulating the president-elect. Why won’t Ephraim and his ilk share this euphoric feeling of oneness that’s got the rest of us dancing?
Chutzpah: It sounds like your son is in a rough yeshiva and rubbing shoulders with a bunch of undesirables. Before he joins some kind of radical Jewish gang, get him out of there.
goyim, huh.
FUCK YOU, you stupid kike!! I love how you think you’re so much smarter than everyone else.
Get some class.
My son is in an extremist,fundamentalist Yeshiva run by bal tshuvas. Negotiating his release from that place with my born-again, fanatic, zealous ex-husband would take more time, money and diplomacy skills than negotiating peace in the Middle East. I’ve been trying for 7 years.
Fortunately, they shove so much hypocrisy and dogma down his throat that by the time he is 18 he will be ready to puke it all up and walk away from it, as his sisters will have already done before him.
Ephraim, you pissed off Whiteboy.
It doesn’t matter who wins, the State Department controls things re Israel.
Looks like the republicans are falling apart pretty quickly. Muffti hopes this is false and just vicious rumour from the McCain camp but if it’s true, the woman who could have been vice president is nothing short of a complete ignoramus. Muffti liked watching Bill O try to smooth over things (‘ok, so she doens’t know any geography, current events, the constitution…’)
Hmmmn…Muffti tried to embed a video but it didnt’ work. check it out at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsr4Yb2ot-A
Muffti also likes that the reporter Carl managed to throw in the word ‘nailing’…a subtle reference to the porn that came otu a while back entitled ‘Nailin’ Palin’?
The republicans have a real chance here to reform and regroup, to drop all the anti-science creationist bullshit, to stop trying to make education a defect rather than a problem, expunge the homophobia and the defend all things jesus and present themselves as a party who has a sensible take on fiscal responsibiility with a hard line on terror. Otherwise, they may as well sit around and pray that the Dems really fuck things up or its gonna be a lot of lean years for those bums.
Here’s an article about the back-biting by the two camps:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/
Muffti,
Andrew Sullivan thinks that the Repubs are going through a longterm phase of introspection, reminiscent of that which the British Tories went through and are still going through. As someone who grew up there, he might know. I’m with you on all their faults re: theocratic impulses and anti-empiricism, but those concerns might perhaps be too esoteric (well, at least the latter is) to your average voter. The debate on how to keep themselves from continuing to hemorrhage support from youth is on, and being held most honestly by younger conservatives such as Ross Douthat and Reihan Salaam. Whether that conversation attracts broader attention from party bosses, however, is as of yet an unanswered question.
As for Palin’s ignorance, I guess that depends on whether or not you think it is just a passable mistake to confuse Africa with an actual country:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-odd-truths.html
I would be pretty sad if the right fell prey to utter intellectual bankrupcy all the way through, but with guys like Michael Weiss at Jewcy and elsewhere hopefully they can do what they must to find a way to stem the freefall. But my take is that it will take even more intellectual honesty and exploration than we are getting. A lot of what they’ve been trying to sell just doesn’t seem to be what US voters are interested in buying. They really need to re-work what they’re offering to fit within a post-cold war, post-industrial, high-tech world, IMO.
Whiteboy, if you were able to read with comprehension, yoju would have seen that my post was a jab aimed at Jews (and our ridiculously inflated belief in our own mental superiority), not at goyim. And goyim is not a swearword, although it’s pretty obvious you think it is. It just means “nations”.
But, hey, there always seem to be Whiteboys around to prove that maybe we are smarter than people like you.
And by “people like you” I mean stupid people, not gentiles.
Batya’s right re: State. And they’ve always been Arabists. Just look what happened to Condi Rice once she got over there. She might as well be drawing her salary from Ramallah.
I wonder what Obama’s “test” is going to be? My guess is perhaps Lebanon, where Syria (that is to say Iran) has its tanks right up against the border. I wonder if Syria (that is to say, Iran) will give the Go signal on Jan., 21, 2009 or have the decency to wait a week or two.
Hey MUL,
Muffti thinks that those concerns ARE too esoteric for the average voter. They are too complex for most of us. But Muffti wasn’t really saying how they should sell themselves but how they should, in Muffti’s opinion, orient themselves and what philosophy they will adopt as a party. Then they can get people with silky voices and nice no more than bi-syllabic words to explain things like anti-empiricism (i.e. ‘we like science and not just when it makes weapons!’) As a professor, Muffti can only hope that this ridiculous anti-intellectualism will be a thing of the past and a mutual appreciation can be reconciled between groups that have been so divided (and, who, in fairness, have really let themsevles be divided).
Or maybe ideally that party will split in 2, one representing the lunatic fringe and one representing a real centrist party that can take a bite out of the democrats and the USA will have a real viable democracy with multiple parties and a choice of options (plus a much diminished ability to run divide a conquer strategies that the republicans have run so effectively for so many years: abortion, race, immigration…as way of dividing democrats). Who kknows. It’s a tough time for them but it represents an interesting opportunity.
Hey guys,
My name is Avinoam and I am a volunteer at the American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS program.
We know from the exit polls how the Jewish community voted yesterday, but there is no way to tell how the younger Jewish community voted. EXCEPT …the ACCESS Survey. Make your voice heard and take our poll at http://www.ajc.org/access.
Also, we are co-sponsoring an important black-Jewish dialogue right before the inaguration over MLK weekend. Check it out at nolaconference.blogspot.com
Thanks,
Avi
The USA will have as viable a democracy as it always has (or has not had, depending on your point of view). Since the inception of the two-party system in its current form, power, at least at the presidential level, has switched between the Dems and the GOP in 40-year cycles. From 1868 to 1928, 7 administrations were Republican and 3 were Democratic. From 1928 to 1968, 7 administrations were Democratic and 3 were Republican. From 1968 to 1928, 7 administrations were Republican and 3 were Democratic. My friend (who also works in an empirical field) thinks I’m reading too much into these patterns, but taking them seriously at least gives the GOP some time to figure their shit out (and methinks they have A LOT of shit to figure out), as well as giving the Dems some time to feel proud of the positive impact that they might actually be able to have on American government for the first time in a generation.
Both the tragic events of 1968 and our response and the systemic reactions to them split the country in a horrible way that we might just now finally be coming to terms with.
Third parties come and go in America and serve their purpose but the system is too far rigged against the ultimate success of any one of them as a permanent structural component.
Sorry, make that last example say “from 1968 to 2008”.
Ephraim, the Biden remark about being ‘tested’ involved a briefing Obama received from US intelligence services, to the effect that chatter had been picked up about a terror attack roughly to coincide with The One’s taking office– that according to the UK Telegraph newspaper.
If it’s not jihadist violence, I’ll speculate Iran will disclose it’s developed nuclear weapons, and/or my personal favorite– Russia announces it’s annexing the Crimea.
Tom, have this as a starter: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_iran
And the first one should have been from “1888 to 1928”. Can’t remember how it went in the twenty years before, but the Republicans still had a powerful hold on the office in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Still really tired today and not yet recovered from a serious cold.
Ephraim, Sect. of State Rice worked for the most Pro-Israel Administration the U.S. has ever had. If you weren’t happy with her performance, nothing short of moving to Israel and being stationed on some boarder with an Uzi is going to please you.
Why do you have such an overblown sense of entitlement that the U.S. Government and people owe Israel so much? That the U.S. has a proud history of allowing large numbers of Jews to immigrate here as free people who enjoyed all the benefits of full citizenship is not enough? What other country has been as good to it’s Jews and Israel as the U.S.A.?
Avinoam, Ephraim isn’t young. 😉
Yes, while Rice worked for Bush directly, she faithfully worked to implement Bush’s policies, which were clearly very pro-Israel. For this, I think Israel, and Jews, owe Bush a debt of gratitude.
Once Rice went to State, that all changed. It just seems to happen that way. Must be something in the water at Foggy Bottom.
In any case, let me repeat what I have said umpteen times before: if I thought that withdrawing from most of the “West Bank”, and even the Golan, would bring real peace, I would support it, albeit reluctantly. I don’t know how many times I have to say this.
But since it is obvious that nothing of the sort will happen, I oppose it, and any administration that tries to browbeat Israel into withdrawing while not applying the same pressure on the Arabs to stop shooting is, by definition, an anti-Israel administration.
Is black-Jewish dialogue ever anything less than urgently required? And surely no more so than now, with the extremely disturbing report that as many as 22% of Jewish-American voters did not cast their ballots for Barack.
It makes me wonder if the sad legacy of pain and injustice can ever be overcome….
To Whiteboy:
“STUPID” kike, huh. Schmuck! you just made an oxymoron, you moron!
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