There's a diary here today that found right-wing bloggers are still buying into the all of the bogus fear-mongering about Obama, including expressing mindless fear about what Obama's election will mean for Jews or Israel. Although the Great Schlep has already taken place, it seems to me that there is still a need to keep making the case for Obama, especially to fearful Jewish retirees in Florida and Arizona.
I recently learned something about Barack Obama, which should answer all that nonsense about Obama being secretly anti-Semitic. I'm actually amazed I did not know this until I read it last week, buried in the Style section of the Washington Post. So, I'd like to share this stunning bit of information with you all, so that you can spread the news from every hilltop. Maybe, even Obama or his surrogates will find a way to work this into their remarks.
First, let me note that the Post article is well worth reading -- it should be required reading for everyone. The article, Uncommon Ground Yes, Obama Lives There. But Chicago's Hyde Park Is a Place All Its Own, discusses the remarkably mixed neighborhood of Hyde Park, as well as Obama's place in the neighborhood. I really didn't know much about Hyde Park, and I found the article fascinating. For example:
"The average white metropolitan resident lives in a neighborhood 80 percent white and only 7 percent black...By contrast, the 2000 census found that 43.5 percent of the 29,000 residents in Hyde Park proper called themselves white, 37.7 percent black, 11.3 percent Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. Another 3.4 percent answered "other."
As a side note, the article made me think of parallels between Obama and FDR, both because of the country's dire economic circumstances, and because both men ran for President, from a place called Hyde Park. Of course, FDR's Hyde Park is a very different place. Now, so much for th side note, and on to the earth-shattering information you are all waiting for:
Here it is -- according to the Post article, the Obamas moved into a Hyde Park condo in 1993. AS most of us know, three years later, he was first elected to represent the neighborhood, in the Illinois State Senate. As all of us know, he was later elected to represent all of Illinois in the U.S. Senate, in 2004. Not long after Barack took office in Washington, the Obama's moved out of their condo apartment. They dropped a whopping $1.6 million for a six bedroom house in the northern end of Hyde Park. OK -- that might seem like a lot of money for most of us, but that's not the big shocker here. It's not that extravagant for a U.S. Senator and best-selling author.
The really shocking information -- that revelation that will put to rest the anti-Semitic rumors:
The Obama's new house is across the street from a synagogue!!
Let me say that again: The Obama's new house is across the street from a synagogue.
To quote the article:
"In 2005, the family moved to a house with six bedrooms and four fireplaces across the street from a synagogue."
Where do the Obamas live? Across the street from a synagogue....
Yes, they deliberately moved to a house that is literally across the street from a local center of Jewish culture -- a house of Jewish worship! Perhaps, this reflects some naivete -- they might not have realized how difficult it would be to find street parking on the Jewish High Holidays. Still, it seems hard to argue that a true anti-Semite would invest such a princely sum to buy a home across the street from a synagogue.
So, the next time you talk to a Jewish relative about the election and they say he's anti-Semitic, just tell them he moved into a nice house across the street from a synagogue in Hyde Park. What kind of anti-Semite spends seven figures to buy a home across the street from a synagogue?