A lot going on today. First, Richard Baehr reviews Norman Podhoretz’s new book Why Are Jews Liberals? in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Chosen People, Choosing Left
In the presidential election, Barack Obama won 78% of the Jewish vote.It will be dangerous to the Jewish future, Mr. Podhoretz says, for Jews to continue down the path of reflexively supporting not just Democrats but also the party’s liberal wing. Unlike every other ethnic or religious group, he notes, Jews do not become more conservative as their income and wealth rise. The reason for such steady liberalism, it is often claimed, is that Jews care about those who are marginalized in America, as Jews themselves were once marginalized both here and in other countries.
But Mr. Podhoretz maintains that Jews are voting against their own interests. Jews advanced in America in the mid-20th century when the meritocracy took hold, individual effort and achievement were rewarded, and group quotas, which limited Jewish educational opportunity and economic advancement, were eliminated. How odd, then, to see Jews aligned with the party that embraces identity politics, affirmative action and quota-driven policies. Democrats also favor higher taxes and more government regulation, neither of which tends to produce the sort of economic expansion that benefits everyone, including the marginalized.
Also recommended on this topic: Book review by David Forsmark at Front Page Mag.
Next, Brian O’Connell at American Spectator has a nice article about the Obama administration’s curious non-interest in winning the war in Afghanistan. After all, O’Connell reminds us, Afghanistan was the war all the Democrats screamed we should have been focusing more on, but that evil Bush distracted us by invading Iraq …
So Much for the Good War
9.25.09The Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress are caught in a political quagmire with respect to the war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported on Monday that General Stanley McChrystal has asked Secretary Gates for additional forces to combat the Taliban-led insurgency. Yet, the Democrats in Congress are publicly raising doubts and even urging for a lighter footprint in a conflict that the president has called—in implicit contrast with Iraq—a “war of necessity.”
Next, Joel Mowbray at Big Government has the latest score between ACORN exposer James O’Keefe vs. a bitter, vindictive Obama-protecting mainstream media:
As soon as James O’Keefe’s explosive video footage was unveiled two weeks ago — shaking ACORN to its core — various leftists and their allies in the mainstream media have fixated on a singular mission: smearing the messenger. O’Keefe was not just targeted by MSM backbenchers, but the Big Three: New York Times, Washington Post, and the Associated Press. The results weren’t even close. It was a lopsided victory for O’Keefe, as all three titans of media issued corrections on damning allegations.
Finally, Jamie Glazov at Front Page Mag’s “Newsreal” blog comments on an exchange between Larry King and his guest, libertarian Larry Elder. Apparently the white Jewish liberal King was offended that black libertarian Elder was not up in arms about alleged “racism” against Barack Obama.
Larry King’s Owed Apology to Larry Elder
2009 SEPTEMBER 25King asks Elder, with an accusatory tone, why he’s not “angry” about racism, the premise being, of course, that King is a better human being because he is angry and Elder is not a good human being because he supposedly isn’t angry.
Elder answers:
“Larry, do you want me to be angry? My father does not know who his father was. He grew up in the south. He got kicked out of the house by his mom. He grew up in Jim Crow south. This is now 2009. We have a black president. We’ve had back-to-back black secretaries of state. I’m grateful that I live in America. And right now, it’s about hard work, accountability and not blaming other people. I’m not going to go there where I don’t see racism. You’re not going to make me.”
There’s something grotesque about Larry King taking the moral high ground with an African-American and telling him that he needs to start getting angry about racism, as if Elder himself doesn’t have his own personal experience with racism and hasn’t dealt with its hurt in his own soul in his own personal way. The key issue Elder is discussing, among other things, is what humans must do to better themselves (i.e. take personal responsibility) and to better the society in which they live under potentially adverse circumstances.
Have a blessed day!
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