Robert Dreyfuss: Obama Works A Tough Room at AIPAC

[laststeamtrain]

Obama Works A Tough Room at AIPAC

Robert Dreyfuss

The Nation -- Two days after John McCain paraded his tough-guy image in front of 7,000 supporters at the annual meeting of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Barack Obama delivered his own version of the Israeli national anthem this morning. For Obama, the AIPAC conference seemed like a tough room to work. But, by all indications, he wowed 'em.

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Virtually every speech ever delivered to an AIPAC conference, going back 54 years to the first AIPAC conclave, is a litany of pro-Israeli shibboleths. Obama didn't disappoint. He learned about the Holocaust from a camp counselor at age 11, he said, and his great-uncle helped to liberate Buchenwald. Check. "As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israeli security." Check. He advocates strengthening US-Israeli military ties, and wants to sign a memorandum of understanding to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid over the next ten years to "ensure Israel's qualitative military advantage." Check. No negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah. Check. And while he will talk to Iran, it will be "tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing--if, and only if--it can advance the interests of the United States." Check. And just in case AIPAC thinks that he won't act, Obama added: "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table."

In case anyone missed the point, Obama added: "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." He repeated that sentence twice, for emphasis. And for additional emphasis, he said again: "Everything."

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An AIPAC meeting, of course, is hardly the place to look for enlightened speech about the Middle East, and there was precious little of it to be found anywhere on the speakers' rostrum this week. But Barack Obama, who entered the lion's den an unknown quantity, won more than a few converts.

For me, the highlight of Obama's speech came at the end, when he spoke movingly, and passionately, about the alliance of Jews and African-Americans who led the civil rights movement in the '50s and '60s.

In the great social movements in our country's history, Jewish and African Americans have stood shoulder to shoulder. They took buses down south together. They marched together. They bled together. And Jewish Americans like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were willing to die alongside a black man--James Chaney--on behalf of freedom and equality.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080604/cm_thenation/1096326710_1

[DesertFlower]

1. unfortunately in the later 60s there was a rift between

african americans and jews. obama has spoken about that. i think he's the one to start the healing process.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Talkingpointsmemo's Rosenberg: At AIPAC Today, Obama Shows How He'll Win ( Note P.S. on Jerusalem)

At AIPAC Today, Obama Shows How He Will Win (Postscript on Jerusalem)

By M.J. Rosenberg - June 4, 2008, 11:49AM

It could have been a case of terrible timing. The first speech after claiming the nomination is delivered at AIPAC. Talk about your tough crowd.

But Obama won them over. He received standing ovations, cheers and even some tears (when he talked about the Holocaust and about slain Jewish civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner and Andy Goodman who were murdered in Mississippi with James Chaney in 1964).

Obama won AIPAC over without dropping his commitment to the two-state solution or engaging in the Palestinian bashing that is normal in that venue.

So how did he do it? It turns out the timing was perfect. Suddenly there is an awareness of the dimensions of Obama's accomplishment. And people want to be part of it. (The AIPAC crowd has a huge contingent of students who are not exactly enthusiastic about returning to the campus in September as McCain supporters).

A friend of mine walked out of the speech with this analysis. It is clear that AIPAC senses a huge shift in America and it wants to be on the right side of it."

Cool.

PS. I am not troubled by Obama's reference to maintaining an "undivided Jerusalem." That is what I favor. Unified city, two sovereignties i.e. shared. I love Jerusalem and the idea of walls going up to divide Jews and Arabs is anathema to me. Share it, don't split. I don't kbnow what Obama meant but I believe that his commitment to an undivided city is right.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/04/at_aipac_today_obama_shows_how/