goethe's Blog

goethe Commented on Debating Who Obama Picks is Relevant to What His Administration Will Do by Steve Clemons

2008-11-09T14:30:58Z

"Will anyone be allowed to inform him that continuing the US policy. . ." (lally)

not with Rahm Emanuel playing dragon at the gate of the Oval Office.

goethe Commented on Rahm Emanuel: Nobody Puts That Baby In a Corner by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-11-08T20:22:23Z

Wordie said: "But it does make me worry that Emanuel might be less inclined to provide access to Obama by those whose views he might consider "anti-Israel," but who I myself might be more inclined to see as "pro-Palestinian."

It's possible to be "pro-peace" but support a peace with terms so beneficial to only one side that it's not a real peace at all. I'm hoping that's not Emanuel's own slant.

. . .the worries expressed above are just that, worries, not things I'm sure about. I know about Emanuel primarily through his reputation for being hardnosed and hard-charging. I don't know much about his specific beliefs on how I-P peace should be achieved; that's why I feel uneasy."

This is exactly how I feel. R.E. will be the gateway to Obama. How are his own inclinations going to affect the people to whom he permits access?

goethe Commented on Barack Obama Should Wrap Up Israel-Palestinian Deal In '09 by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-11-08T20:14:12Z

OK, I just found other article on RE: nobody puts baby in a corner where my question is addressed.

goethe Commented on Barack Obama Should Wrap Up Israel-Palestinian Deal In '09 by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-11-08T20:09:41Z

Can I ask this without bringing down a firestorm on my head (not from MJR, rather from certain of the frequent commenters)? What effect is the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as CoS going to have? He may not be in a policy-making position, but he will have Obama's ear every day. What will he be telling him, directly and indirectly, about what directions US policy should take? His background and abrasive personality are known. What are his positions?

goethe Commented on Election Central Morning Roundup by Eric Kleefeld

2008-11-06T17:16:46Z

Perhaps Rahm had his eye on the suddenly vacant seat of the junior senator from Illinois?

goethe Commented on Emanuel Spokesperson Denies He's Accepted Chief Of Staff ... And Other Transition Notes by Greg Sargent

2008-11-06T10:35:24Z

One of the cornerstones of Amer. for. policy is US support for Israel. But it cannot even be brought up without generating an immediate comment like this:

"Not to put to fine a point on it, Mr. Anti-Semite, but go fuck yourself!" (See ttarleton above)

The AS-word stops all conversation and the snarling vitriol is supposed to intimidate everyone into silence.

If Mr. Emanuel's father had been a member of Hezbollah, there would be major headlines and explosions of horror on every blog. He was in fact a member of Irgun, a organization responsible for the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in which 91 people were killed. If Palestinians carried out such an attack today, there is no one who cannot imagine the immediate response from Israel and the expressions of support for it on the part of the US government.

Discussion of the massive double standard practiced in the US regarding what is always called Israeli defense vs what is always called Palestinian aggression remains taboo. I will not be comfortable about the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff until we've seen more explicit expressions of what Obama's approach to American-Israel-Palestine relations will be.

The usual immediate resort to shouting, insults, and bad language in blog discussions doesn't fill me with optimism.

goethe Commented on Tell Us Your Voting Stories by Greg Sargent

2008-11-04T17:31:30Z

Got this report from my son in Manhattan as he took the A train down from Washington Heights after voting:

Two girls who got on the train at 181st had a loud conversation about how one of them was voting for McCain and the other wished she could except that she's Canadian. They allowed with a sigh that Obama would win anyway. The whole rest of the very crowded car was dead silent.

goethe Commented on The Obama Infomercial: How To Spend Their War Chest Before The Election Is Over by Eric Kleefeld

2008-10-30T09:30:37Z

Just to lower the level: anyone think he's been botoxed in the past month? His face was so smooth as he spoke from the front of the desk, I started comparing it to the interspersed earlier shots. Granted he's not a big grimacer, but it seemed to me there was a bit more brow wrinkling before.

Wouldn't surprise me. I keep waiting for him to collapse from exhaustion and worrying about how he's going to keep up the pace.

goethe Commented on The Obama Infomercial: How To Spend Their War Chest Before The Election Is Over by Eric Kleefeld

2008-10-30T09:29:13Z

Wouldn't surprise me. I keep waiting for him to collapse from exhaustion and worrying about how he's going to keep up the pace.

goethe Commented on An Open Thread Of Congratulations by Lila Shapiro

2008-10-13T15:36:36Z

Treas. Sec, Fed Chair, Council of Econ Advisers Chair? Or all three at once? Great news for US and all us long-time readers. Thanks to Nobel Committee. Just another example of Princeton in the nation's service, right, Josh?