Obama at his worst - and his best

On Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama's speech on race in America tried to quell the controversy over his America-bashing, race-baiting, Israel-hating pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. For days, video clips of Wright spewing his poison threatened to neutralize Obama's populist magic. Until Tuesday, the controversy showed Obama at his worst. His response to his pastor's demagoguery was mealy-mouthed and disingenuous. It was impossible to believe Obama's Clintonesque claim of ignorance, that he never "sat in the pews" during one of Wright's wrongheaded riffs. And Obama's failure over a twenty-year relationship to criticize his mentor's venom stirred doubts about Obama's judgment, patriotism, and commitment to the unity he celebrates. Yet once again, Illinois' rookie Senator hit a grand slam with two strikes against him. Obama's speech was thoughtful, thought-provoking, rich, complex, effective, poetic, and inspiring.

Walk in the footsteps of JFK

Clarifying Barack Obama's stance on Israel is secondary to figuring out how he understands the world. As the Obama Phenomenama grows, many who are not completely starry-eyed fear his foreign policy may be too starry-eyed. The 46-year-old senator's foreign policy can best be summarized in two words: "Leave Iraq."

Echoing the 1960s' get-out-of-Vietnam movement, this approach risks perpetuating the delusions of the Clinton 1990s he usually rejects, ignoring the ugly realities facing post-9/11 America.

As a former community organizer, Obama cares most about domestic issues. His experience overseas is limited - beyond his oft-distorted Indonesian sojourn when young. Like most Ivy League-educated idealistic Americans, he assumes compromises can be found for every foreign conflict, while viewing "evil" as a right-wing Republican spectre not a force in today's world. And considering how high he has soared with his charisma and eloquence, he naturally assumes he can handle any world leader, one on one.

Making elections real events not 'pseudo events'

Perhaps the best thing that happened in the marginal, unrepresentative Iowa caucuses was that Senator Barack Obama defied all that media speculation about Senator Hillary Clinton's "inevitability." Perhaps the best thing that happened in the marginal, unrepresentative New Hampshire primary  was that Senator Hillary Clinton disproved all that media speculation about Senator Barack Obama's momentum. The results for Republicans were similarly surprising, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee supposedly coming from "nowhere" to win in Iowa, and Senator John McCain "coming back" to win after pundits pronounced his candidacy dead. The 350,000 citizens who caucused in Iowa and the half a million or so New Hampshirites who voted in their state's Democratic and Republican primaries reminded the pundits that even in modern America's "mediaocracy," the power remains with the people.

About this blog

Center Field McGill history professor Gil Troy - a passionate moderate - looks at the American presidency, American history, Zionism, Judaism and Israel today.

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Philip Gretzky: they are exactly the places where there is a push to have more "representation" of groups in proportion to their percent in the American population. They are the places where certain groups demand their own housing arrangements. Mr. Troy is totally wrong about America being a place where there is "a strong sense of cohesion and a rich internal identity, not simply about group posturing." Perhaps Mr. Troy has never heard of the phrase "the Balkanization of America." It's easy--and intellectuallly dishonest--to dismiss counterexamples by calling them "trivial."
Philip Gretzky: stand on Israel's defence. Hard to believe, but true. There are women I saw interviewed on TV who preferred Hilary Clinton because they wanted a woman as President. And candidate's are aware of what is called "the Hispanic vote," and on that basis have to consider the matter of illegal immigration from South America and Mexico. And there are American citizens who are agains making English the official language. All this means is that there are millions of American citizens who, contrary to Mr. Troy's assertions, do NOT with to "transcend identity." As far as uniiversities are concerned,
Philip Gretsky: This is exactly how the anti-Israel Noam Chomsky deals with his critics: their arguments are trivial, or "it's merely an empirical matter," or the issues raised are marginal and irrelevant. As a matter of fact, anyone who keeps up with the news in the U.S. knows that political candidates make their pitches with the affiliations and interests of racial, ethnic, religious, and gender groups being addressed. There is a widespread belief, for example, that most blacks prefer Barack Obama. Hard to belive but true. There is a widespread belief that religous Jews are sensitive to a candidate's