Jen Rubin talked to some of the attendees at Obama's awkward AIPAC speech, and some fo the responses were interesting:
In interviews with about two dozen attendees of all ages, some observant Jews and some not, the reaction was evenly divided between those unimpressed if not dismayed and those willing to believe Obama cleared everything up. As two ladies from Georgia told me, “We thought it was great!” They were so very pleased that Obama “explained himself.”
I spoke to two young men from Maryland. One was a high school delegate, the other a kippah-wearing student from a Jewish school. The first young man ventured the view that Obama had done well clearing up any confusion.
In the same hallway two twenty-something men from Washington gushed. Because Obama reiterated the Quartet principles to get the Palestinians to the table, one of them was not bothered that on the substance of the negotiations only Israel’s concessions were mentioned....
Two men, one D.C. media representative for a Jewish group and one a teacher from a Jewish high school in New York, were seated together...The D.C. man was thrilled. “I voted for Obama last time. I’ll vote for him again.”
The most fascinating and informative reaction came from a middle-aged couple. These Democrats from the Rust Belt voted for Obama and will vote for him again. The wife said, “I think he intends well.” Nevertheless, both were candid. Both readily concurred that Obama has divided the Jewish community like no other president. “Say what you will,” but George W. Bush was solid on Israel, the wife commented....
"I'm sorry I hurt you, honey" says the president as he clumsily applies a steak over the blackened eyes he has just inflicted. "I'll never do it again. Honest. it was all a misunderstanding. You know I love you, and you love me. So stop crying, and hold this over your eye while I reach into your pocketbook for a little loan I need to just get me through. You'll see, in 2012 it will be a completely different ballgame. I promise."
Jen Rubin again:
One member of the media joked, “If he nuked Tel Aviv, maybe the Jewish vote would go down to 60 percent.” He was kidding, but the ability of liberal Jews to reassure themselves that Obama really is devoted to Israel is impressive. Evidence to the contrary is dismissed or downplayed, and any hint of Obama’s positive attitude toward Israel is grasped tightly, with delight. It’s okay to vote for him. I can do this with a clear conscience. But in the quiet of the night, do they lose sleep over the prospect of a second Obama term, one without the restraint of an impending election?
Just curious - how many battered wives, who return for more of the same, wind up dead in a ditch when their husband, in the throes of yet another bender, goes just a little too far in expressing their displeasure ?
And who thinks that our president - who has shown himself to be immature, vain, purile, unintelligent, hostile, and anti-semitic - isn't capable of doing the same thing, if, one one day after his re-election, he has decided he has had enough of Benjamin Netanyahu and those pesky Jews denying him his rightful place in history?
Time to leave him, before he kills us, once and for all...
