Over at Commentary, Jennifer Rubin has some interesting thoughts about Obama’s AIPAC speech:
He began with the excuse/warning that bad things were being said about him in emails. But again he did not use the occasion to mend any fences–to explain, for example, that advisors say things he doesn’t believe in, or that he has come to see how hateful and disturbing Rev. Wright’s hate speech is and how it poisoned the well with the Jewish community. The elephant in the room just stomped along.
He did the same thing last night when he accused McCain of “denying his accomplishments” without in any way explaining how this is happening, or why it’s unfair.
As for bad things being said about him in e-mails, spare me. I’m pretty sure the AIPAC crowd is sophisticated enough to ignore e-mails suggesting he’s a Muslim and are more worried about the tangible things he’s done that would suggest he’s not a friend of Israel — such as stocking his campaign with vehemently anti-Israel advisers and his refusal in the Senate to vote for a resolution that passed with 76 votes declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, even though they’ve been actively helping Hezbollah kill Israelis for years. (He’s apparently vacillating on the Revolutionary Guard, even though he repeatedly bludgeoned Hillary on the campaign trail for supporting Bush’s “saber-rattling” by voting for it.) Oh and for good measure, Rubin also has a YouTube video of Chicago Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah saying that before he ran for national office, Obama used to be “very comfortable” expressing his support for the Palestinian cause.
Obama desperately needs to explain past actions that would suggest he’s not a staunch supporter of Israel. Because right now, he’s running around the campaign trail accusing others of unfairly characterizing his views on Israel without cause. He also has the temerity to say things such as, “Nobody has ever been able to point to statements that I made or positions that I’ve taken that are contrary to the long-term security interests in Israel and in any way diminish the special relationship we have with that country.” I don’t see how that’s anything other than a lie, and the media needs to call him on it.