Jimmy Carter's upcoming meeting with Hamas leaders is causing temper tantrums and major headaches in Washington and Jerusalem (the story is already nicely covered by Robert Naiman , tommery and others).
On this occasion, Ed Koch - NYC's legendary (or not) 1980's mayor and right-wing apologist as of late - has decided to weigh in as well.
His piece, deceptively titled "Looking back at Life", is a shameful demonstration of all that went wrong with the Jewish Democratic "old guard" - especially those concentrated around New York and its South Florida retiree colonies.
Since the phenomenon Koch personifies has important implications for Obama's election prospects, I hope my discussion below gets some attention.
Koch's piece begins innocently enough,
When we get older, and our energies begin to diminish, we take stock of where we've been and what's left to do. At age 83, I am much more reflective than I was when I was 40.
Looking back at my life, I feel blessed that I have had a great ride and have no complaints. I am the son of Louis and Joyce Koch, both Polish Jewish immigrants who came here in the early 1900s.
They raised three children and worked their way into the lower middle class....
Etc. etc. His life's story in 600 words or so. The article's point - and punch - is concentrated in one little paragraph. Here's the first part:
Ford lost to Jimmy Carter. I came to know Carter well.
When he ran for reelection, he asked me to campaign for him in 1980 - I was by then Mayor of New York City -- and I said that I would vote for him, but not campaign for him because he was then engaging in hostile acts towards Israel.
What were these "hostile acts towards Israel"? in 1977-1979 Carter was indeed busy over his head with Israel:
Brokering Israel's first-ever peace treaty, with its most powerful and dangerous enemy.
Later, until the end of his term, Carter stuck around to make sure both sides make good on their commitments.
Hostile indeed.
Let us finish Koch's paragraph then:
I was popular with the Jewish community and when I would not campaign for him unless he changed his position, he called me to his hotel in New York when attending a fundraiser and said, "You have done me more damage than any man in America." I felt proud then, and even more today, since we now know what a miserable president he was then and the miserable human being he is now as he prepares to meet with Hamas.
Miserable indeed. As miserable now, as he was hostile as President.
Let us ignore the inconvenient fact that a solid majority of Israelis favors negotiations with Hamas, and that this majority has been in place ever since Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006. The Israeli and US governments - and Jewish American "leaders" like Koch - have also ignored this, to the great joy and benefit of everyone in the region.
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Why should we bother about an aging, vindictive ex-politician writing some lousy column?
Because Koch is part of a milieu and a phenomenon. He is still a Democrat; very much a "Lieberman Democrat" at that, but Democrat he is. And there is a huge population of 50-and-over-year-old American Jews who are committed Democrats (more committed than Koch), but take far-right positions over Israel-Palestine.
Calling the brokering of a peace treaty "a hostile act" is beyond the pale. But within the echo-chamber of this milieu, this is not noticed. There is a homegrown nationalist extremism, mixed with a lot of racism, among the Old Guard of American Jewry. This is the mindset that sent from America to Israel "presents" like fascist rabble-rouser Meir Kahane and mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. The more extremist core is concentrated in certain Orthodox circles; but among older generations, there is a great tolerance to this sort of world view.
This is not much different from Southern White racism: there were the KKK folk, and there plain folk who tolerated the racist status quo and had fear and disdain towards blacks.
The time to out this mindset among American Jewry and put an end to tolerating it - is long overdue.
Jews have been sheltered from self-scrutiny because of our past victimization, and therefore expressions that would have cost dearly to those who say or write them, are still given a free pass when it is a Jew who makes them.
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This is from the perspective of principle. On the practical front, I feel more and more that the last group rallying around Clinton and egging her to battle on, is this "Old Guard". The Jewish magazine Forward estimates that among Jewish superdelegates, Clinton leads Obama 3 to 1. This means that among non-Jews they are essentially even.
Moreover, when Hillary repeats (as quoted) that Obama "can't win", I think she refers to what these people (like Koch, like Haim Saban, etc.) are telling her: if Obama wins, "the Jews" will vote for McCain.
Well, here are the news: this "Old Guard" is like generals without troops.
Like their parents and grandparents, under-50 American Jews are overwhelmingly progressive and Democratic. Unlike their elders, they have neither a living memory of the Holocaust, nor of a small and fragile Israel.
The Israel they know is a regional power, always having some military force on Arab land, and getting into trouble too often to blame it all on "the Arabs" (it's hard to blame, say, the assassination of Israel's PM by a right-wing fanatic on "the Arabs"). So no matter whether they become "self-hating-Jews" whose grandparents won't talk to about politics, or whether they are just "moderate" - the passion and conviction in "Israel good, Arabs bad" is not there.
In fact, if they care about Israel at all (and quite a few of them do not anymore), under-50 Jews would like to see a change in tone from the White House. Something less along the "war of civilization" line, or even the "Labor good, Likud bad" line of Bill Clinton - and more along the "talk to your enemies" line promoted by Carter; and, yes, Obama.
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Obama has been the greatest fear of the Jewish "Old Guard". This is both because of his Chicago grassroots activism roots (sheesh! The man actually knows the Palestinian side of the story! Even Carter didn't know it until he got elected). But also - let's face it - because this "Old Guard" worldview is inherently racist.
A friend of mine told me this anecdote, from a closed meeting of Jewish scholars. Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz addressed them and said something along the lines, "Muslims in America are multiplying, and are getting politically smarter. We don't have much time to lose" in politically out-manuevering them etc. My friend asked him (or wanted to ask him, I don't recall) whether Muslim babies are the new enemy, but no one else appeared to be too embarrassed by the whole discussion.
The only "legitimate" form of racism nowaday is against Arabs, sorry "Islamic extremism", but in private circles many of the elderly Israel-firsters do not trust anyone whose skin is too dark. Especially dark AND "leftist on Israel".
No matter how much Obama panders to this "Old Guard" with hawkish statements on Israel, he won't get them.
On the other hand, he needs no pandering whatsoever to win the under-50 Jewish vote. Here are some CNN exit polls from the primaries:
New York - election results 57-40 Clinton; Jews in exit poll 65-33 Clinton
Florida (a NY colony) "beauty contest" primary - general 50-33 Clinton; Jews in exit poll 58-26 Clinton
Now move outside the NYC sphere:
California - election results 52-43 Clinton; Jews 49-47 Obama!
Or even, Massachusetts - election results 56-41 Clinton; Jews 52-48 Obama!
What's going on here?
For one, this is another testimony to Obama's political genius. He recognized an opportunity - the disconnect between the official organs of American Jewry, still controlled by the "Old Guard", and the mass of American Jews, especially those under 50 and living away from the NYC area. He positioned himself close to the latter, and he managed to split the Jewish vote.
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And now to Obama's main challenge: How to avoid "Old Guard" defecting to McCain and affecting other American Jews in the general elections?
My take is, don't pander. To the hard core, you are marked and lost already. And you may lose a lot of other votes and your image of integrity in the process. What he needs to do, is isolate them and cut them down to their true size.
Obama needs to sharpen the differences with his rival on the Middle East. Diplomacy vs. more of the same. Understanding of world culture vs. inherent white-man bias. Openness vs. an "us against them" mentality. And so on.
For us in the grassroots - especially the 15% or so of site visitors who are Jewish (according to the demographic polls taken here) - it is time to go on the offensive. This is already going on in the "big circles", with the J Street initiative and with Obama's success.
Now is the time, on the local and family level, to out those racist mindsets and Holocaust-induced Israel obsession, and deal with them.
Good luck to all.
UPDATE (hat tip to katz5): Well, now Obama too has weighed in on Carter's trip.
Surprise surprise: Barack is not heeding my advice! He chose the pandering route.
Can't blame him not wanting to open another front - given that March-April have been officially declared "national silly-season-on-Obama months". But still:
This is wrong both on principle and practically.
On principle, I'm sure that in private quarters (not that these exist anymore for him, poor bastard) his opinions about the matter are quite different.
Practically, he should never play defense on this. Dems have been playing defense on this for too long. Pandering to this "Old Guard" just makes them feel and act bigger than they really are and frame the issue in their own twisted terms.
Obama should play offense (in the spirit of "hey Israel, are you better off now than 8 years ago?") and call out AIPAC's bluff. The clearer he differentiates himself from McCain on this, the better for him.