Actually the Democrats are stupid enough to continue it because they cannot run on their record. Yet today the public will officially announce that blaming Bush is just not good politics any more. The biggest visible difference between Bush and Obama is their reception when they visit the military.
by J.T. Young
Today’s election is more about America’s Left and Right, than Democrats and Republicans. And the Left’s worst blow from it will be its inability to blame Bush for it. This time, nothing stands between the left and the public’s verdict. Tomorrow that verdict will be clear. And with it will go the tiresome posture in which somehow they could be present at problems without ever being responsible for them.
For a full decade, the Left has been laying every problem at Bush’s feet. He has been it fail-safe. Like a child’s imaginary friend, on whom all mischief in the house is blamed, Bush served the same purpose for the Left. Never was it responsible for anything, despite often being at the scene of the accident.
A parent turns a blind eye to the children’s charade, knowing an imaginary friend allows a child the opportunity to ease into accepting responsibility. But in the Left’s case, its make-believe only allowed it to ease out of responsibility. In life, children grow older; in this instance, only the liberals’ device has grown old.
Apparently the public no longer has a parent’s patience. To quote, the apostle Paul: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Here the childish thing is not being put away, it is being taken away.
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Despite the Left’s continued attempts to remake it into an intent-oriented society, America is still a results-oriented one. There is no better evidence than this that America remains at its core a conservative nation.
The Left is intent-oriented. For the Left, what motivates is what matters — not what actually comes from it. What motivates an action is what determines their perception of it. For the Left, it is not simply enough to have accomplished a task, it must have been inspired by adherence to its principles.
The reason is simple: The Left’s principles do not work in practice. So the last thing the Left is willing to do, is to have them measured by its results. Instead, it must be measured by intent.
Read the rest The end of blaming Bush
Barack Obama’s barely contained antipathy towards Israel has galvanized the pro Israel vote. The ironic thing is that it is not only Jews who have been ticked off by our declining relationship with Israel but non Jews as well. We are on the verge of electing the most pro Israel congress ever due to the manufactured (by Obama and Hillary Clinton) crises with the Israeli government this year. Considering Obama’s background, nobody should have been surprised that he was not exactly a hard core Israel supporter. The push back against Obama starts today.
by Abe Katsman
US President Barack Obama has succeeded in at least one area in his controversial presidency: He inadvertently has galvanized American public support for Israel, making Mideast policy a surprisingly potent issue in this congressional election. And, thanks to the Obama administration’s perceived hostility toward Israel, the reticence of even Jewish elected Democrats to criticize their president and the emergence of a new generation of vocally pro- Israel Republican candidates, the pro-Israel vote has shifted in a decidedly Republican direction.
The litany of Obama administration acts causing angst in the pro-Israel community includes: reneging on understandings reached with Israel by the previous administration to avoid a return to indefensible pre-1967 “Auschwitz” borders; orchestrating a diplomatic crisis and publicly dressing-down Israel following Vice President Joe Biden’s visit; suggesting that its policies were causing American troop deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan; forcing long-established Jewish Jerusalem neighborhoods onto the negotiating table; suggesting that American cooperation on Iran be contingent on bending to Obama’s will regarding unilateral concessions; freezing-out mainstream Jewish organizations from the White House, while elevating the George Soros-financed J Street (which claims to be pro-Israel, though it is still searching for that elusive issue where it actually endorses Israel’s position); dithering while Iran methodically builds the bomb; and, last week, refusing to say plainly that America considers Israel to be a Jewish state.
Even prominent liberal Jewish Democrats – Obama supporters in 2008 – have been straightforward in their criticism of the president’s conduct. Mort Zuckerman, editor of US News and World Report, who even did speech-writing for Obama, has repudiated his endorsement, lamenting that “from the start of his presidency, Mr. Obama has undermined Israel’s confidence in US support.”
Marty Peretz, editor of The New Republic, had said in 2008 that the Obama foreign policy team gave him “the shudders” regarding Israel. He overcame that feeling once Obama was the Democrats’ nominee, and bestowed his Jewish blessing on Obama’s candidacy. His verdict on Obama now: “The fact is that he does not particularly like Israel.”
Ed Koch, New York’s irrepressibly liberal former mayor, blasted Obama’s “blatantly hostile attitude toward Israel,” and expressed “grave doubt” that he “can be counted on to do what presidents before him did – protect our ally, Israel.”
Koch touched on an insufficiently discussed point: the silence of so many in Congress who should be protesting Obama’s shabby treatment of Israel. “Where are the voices,” asked Koch, “of the 31 members of the House and 14 senators who are Jewish?”
IT’S A question worth pondering. Of those 45 Jewish members of Congress, exactly one is a Republican. The Jewish Democrats, with the notable (if belated) exception of Sen. Charles Schumer, have not exactly been outspoken defenders of Israel against Obama’s onslaught. Too many have been fair-weather Zionists – tepidly supportive in general, but not willing to make waves or cross their party’s leader no matter how warranted.
Interestingly, some of those congressional Jews are facing tough challenges from more courageously Zionist non-Jews. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), for example, has been AWOL even during Obama’s heaviest pressure; her opponent, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, has been critical not only of Obama’s stance, but of Boxer’s silence. Rep. Ron Klein (D-Florida), who has participated in J Street events, is facing African-American Col. Allen West, a rising Republican star who is arguably the most fearless, unapologetically pro-Israel candidate in either party.
This is consistent with the developing partisan realignment of formerly bipartisan Israel-support. Encouragingly, in the wake of Obama’s actions, the American electorate – 98 percent non-Jewish – is now solidly behind Israel: According to a recent McLaughlin poll, 53% could not vote for an anti-Israel candidate even if they agreed with that candidate’s other positions. But look closer: Among Republicans, 69% are more likely to vote for a pro-Israel candidate, 15% less likely; among Democrats, however, 40% are more likely to vote for a pro-Israel candidate, 33% less likely. A mere 5% of self-described liberals currently consider themselves pro-Israel.
The realignment is especially evident in Congress. Following the calculated diplomatic crisis earlier this year, a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supporting Israel was drafted and signed by 334 members of Congress; 98 Congressmen refused to sign; 91 of them were Democrats.
In race after race, the Republican is by far the more rock-solid supporter of Israel, whether Senate candidates (e.g., Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey against J Street favorite Joe Sestak, Washington Republican Dino Rossi against incumbent Patty Murray), or outstanding, confidently Jewish Republican congressional candidates such as Randy Altshuler (NY) and Joel Pollak (Illinois ) against Obama-loyalist Democrats. J Street has endorsed 60 candidates; all are Democrats.
Read the rest Obama’s achievement: Rousing the pro Israel vote