Marty Peretz Hissyfit: That Obama Is So Mean
The Likud right is really hurting. President Obama had 15 Jewish organizational figures at the White House Monday and refused to genuflect. The last time this happened was 1957. Seriously.
Here's the best part. Malcolm Honeline who is head of the Council of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations told Obama that he didn't object to him criticizing Israel on settlements but that he shouldn't do it publicly. He said that there should never be "any daylight" between the US position and Israel's.
Obama slapped Honeline down and left him dazed. "'For eight years, there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished.," he said. Not having been invited to the White House, I missed that moment. I'd have given a lot!
Wow. Poor Honeline. He may have to return to his day job. Recording messages to the Iranian people urging them to shape up or else.
Meanwhile, Martin Peretz is all hissy-fitting because the Obama who is President is not the one he supported. I could have told him that. The old Jabontinskyite should have joined his mentor, Jackie Mason, and supported McCain.
And here's Bill Kristol. All my favorites are so miserable!
MJ : I would say your degree of gloat is justified at its current level. Enjoy the moment.
However : recall what Harvey Keitel said to Travolta and Jackson when they were about to clean up the blood-spattered car in 'Pulp Fiction' ...
"Let's not go s***ing each other's d***s just yet"
July 14, 2009 7:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beautifully said!
July 14, 2009 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, I don't think that Kristol piece could get any whinier! About Obama, Emanuel, and Axelrod, he complains:
Pretty funny coming from "Dan Quayle's brain."
July 14, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah the schadenfreude of the left these days as they watch their foes squirm in discomfort as Obama applies pressure to Israel. How wonderful it is to have the president seemingly affirm every bit of anti-Israel dogma they hold so dear.
Enjoy it while you can, guys, because it ain't gonna make a bit of difference in the end. Oh sure, Obama will probably strong-arm some settlement -related concessions from Israel, and that may even be a good thing on its face. But anyone who thinks this is actually going to lead to peace is smoking crack. A settlement freeze may stroke the Israel-bashers' erogenous zones, but it isn't going to turn the Palestinians into a population ready to accept Israel. It isn't going to stamp out radical Islam and it isn't going to do anything to solve the most contentious issue of all, which is the Palestinian "right of return". The day a Palestinian leader renounces that - an absolute minimum that any Israeli leader would demand - is the day I'll start thinking that peace is possible.
July 14, 2009 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a proposal : carry on doing whatever you are doing over there, but do not make the American government pay for it. Then you do it the way you like, all day long. Pass the hat among friends to raise the money.
That's a square deal.
Meanwhile, if Americans are paying for it, Americans are commenting on it.
July 14, 2009 8:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
You voted for him. Thanks!
July 14, 2009 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
BTD: " A settlement freeze may stroke the Israel-bashers' erogenous zones, but it isn't going to turn the Palestinians into a population ready to accept Israel."
You're right, of course. The only way Palestinians will accept Israel is if the Israelis confiscate more Palestinian land, set up more checkpoints, demolish more Palestinian homes and olive groves, and limit the Palestinian's access to sufficient supplies of clean water.
Those ungrateful bast#rds.
July 15, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't even think these guys are really miserable at all, since Obama hasn't really done anything very dramatic. Most of them are Republicans pretending to be miserable in order to play for votes among the least sophisticated and most credulous members of the American Jewish community. Some like Peretz are just experienced drama queens playing hardball on behalf their cause by acting out their "misery". It's all a bunch of political show biz. These guys have thicker skins than they are pretending to have.
July 14, 2009 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let us step down from Planet MJ, return to Earth, and reflect for a moment with all appropriate satisfaction that American Jewish leadership may actually be catching up to its rank-&-file, finally leaving the ganse machers of Beit Podhoretz to wallow in their well-earned irrelevance.
JTA:
July 15, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Let us step down from Planet MJ, return to Earth, and reflect for a moment with all appropriate satisfaction that American Jewish leadership may actually be catching up to its rank-&-file, finally leaving the ganse machers of Beit Podhoretz to wallow in their well-earned irrelevance."
This is really nice writing.
July 15, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
How about Peretz's title: "Obama's Chutzpah. Sorry, Only Israelis Have Chutzpah. So It's Obama's Haughty Condescension." You'd think some negro was getting uppity or something every time Obama is called "haughty."
July 15, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink