I saw Condi Rice speak at the Yeshiva Beth Yehuda benefit dinner in Detroit tonight. The YBH dinner is a major annual fundraiser for one of Detroit's oldest Jewish schools, run by the Orthodox stream. All levels of government officials came, from Kwame Kilpatrick and Jennifer Granholm, to the Levin brothers, Thad McCotter, and the mighty Joe Knollenberg. In addition to many local luminaries, about 2,500 people were in attendence, nearly all of them Jews of various streams.
Giving a short speech near the beginning of the speaking order, Jennifer Granholm stated solemnly that the night was to be a time to "step back and take a break from partisan politics". Probably an attempt at unification, this appeared to me to be an attempt to pacify us, to discourage crowd eruptions, and perhaps was a warning for Condi not to be too political.
Condi (thankfully) didn't get the message, and after a gracious introduction, gave a brief history of the war on terror, the accomplishments to date, and Bush's vision for the future. Dr. Rice spoke of the period after WWII, when Germany was in shambles, and reconstuction was seen as faling. She linked the earlier American drive to spead democracy, and the current operations in Iraq, and outlined Bushes vision for a middle-east where terror has no home because the hopelessness of tyranny has been erased.
Speaking on Israel, Dr. Rice spoke of Bush's determination to have a Palestinian state that lives at peace with Isreal, and rejects terror, which has an honest democratic government. She reminded us that Bush has rejected Arafat utterly, and that no Palestinian state can arise through terror (much applause).
Overall, Condi gave a brief but potent speech. She received applause several times, sometimes quite vigorous, and was very warmly received by the audience. Score one for the Bush team in Michigan.
A better report of the evening may appear here soon.
