My problem with John Kerry
THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 4, 2004
My father taught me early on that it was best to avoid both religion
and politics. As a rabbi, I violated his first commandment big-time.
Now I have to transgress the second as well.
As the American presidential election approaches, I cannot help but
weigh in on the import of this decision, and the ramifications it has
not only for us, but for every citizen of the free world.
I admit: I am biased. I grew up in Chicago, ruled for decades by the
mighty Daley Democratic machine, whose motto "vote early, vote often"
was taken literally by its hordes of election workers.
The Dems had a lock on Jewish voters, and Jewish Republicans were
about as popular as an "Indians for Custer" fan club.
But I was a contrarian. I idealistically believed that you should
vote for the best man or woman for the job; it couldn't be that the
Democrat was always the more skilled, and the Republican always the
incompetent.
The person, not the party, ought to rule.
Well, I still feel that way. I know I'm in the minority among my
co-religionists, whose knee-jerk practices at the polls stem either
from grossly over-sentimental fantasies about FDR, or the belief that
the Democrats espouse a "kinder, gentler" philosophy that is more
akin to Jewish values.
But I prefer to look beyond the slogans, to the substance.
And I like President Bush. I like the way he has conducted himself in
the face of a blistering firestorm of anti-American sentiment. I
identify with his situation, because it's exactly the same one we
Israelis face.
We, too, are blamed for all the ills of society, from the security
fence to the weather. And if we are unfairly criticized, then it's
easy to accept that Bush is also being made the fall guy by the real
villains of the world.
Now, I have no strong opinion about Kerry. He's an untested, unknown
quantity about whom it's tough to paint a truly definitive picture.
But I am bothered by two things: First, early on in his campaign
(before his horrified spin doctors shut him up), Kerry talked about
naming as special Middle East envoys Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton,
the two ex-presidents who may have done us the most harm in history.
Carter - arguably the pea-nuttiest prez of the 20th century -
consistently blames Israel as the aggressor, and the Arabs as the
victims, in his twisted view of the Mideast struggle. He even went so
far as to say that while he and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat richly
deserved their Nobel peace prizes, Menachem Begin - who ceded a land
mass to Egypt larger than Israel itself - was "stubborn and
dogmatic," and should never have been given the award.
Big Bill, on the other hand, had a different tactic. He consistently
expressed his passionate love for the Jewish state. In fact, he
almost loved us to death, continually nudging us to give and give and
give, until there would be nothing left of Israel to even give away.
And until Yasser Arafat rudely rejected Clinton's overtures at Camp
David, the arch-terrorist was the White House's most frequent foreign
visitor.
Second, I am appalled at the legions of anti-Semites who prefer Kerry
to Bush. Every Jew-hating, Israel-bashing nut-case is outside Madison
Square Garden screaming for not only Bush's head, but Israel's skin.
And while Kerry may not be encouraging these flakes of the far Left,
I sure haven't seen him condemning them, either. If so many would-be
destroyers of Israel detest Bush, it tells me he must be doing
something right.
But I not only admire Bush for what he's done - identify evil,
condemn Palestinian terrorism, refuse to allow Arafat into Washington
- I also respect him for what he hasn't done.
He hasn't condemned the security fence, the closures or the targeted
killings of terrorist leaders.
He hasn't continually conned us into capitulating; he hasn't demanded
we do nothing in the face of attacks on our population; and he hasn't
insisted we give away the store in return for worthless promises from
despicable criminals.
"If a word is worth one coin," say the Sages, "then silence is worth
two."
Bush's silence, his conscious decision to leave us alone to fight our
own battles and confront the enemy on our own terms, should be sweet
music to our ears. With so many self-appointed prophets telling us
what to do or not do, it is an absolute pleasure to have an American
leader who knows the art of being quiet.
I'm not saying that Bush is a saint. But considering the field, I'd
much rather have a Bush than a bushwhacker.
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The Problem With John Kerry
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Originally Posted by Sayeret
