M.J. Rosenberg - December 10, 2008, Talking points Memo — spins a trip by Obama to an Arab Capital into a push for a peace deal:

Yesterday he told the Chicago Tribune that he will be going to a Middle East capital (probably Cairo) as soon as he takes office to tell the Arab world (and the Israelis) that the bad old days are over.  The Obama administration will put all its weight behind peace and, reading between the lines, behind the Arab League initiative which offers Israel full peace and normalization of relations with all 22 Arab states in exchange for a Palestinian state in West Bank/Gaza and East Jerusalem.

While it would be nice to see a big and expensive push for peace shake up the equilibrium of low-intensity-conflict in Israel, Rosenberg might be reading too much into what Obama said, namely:

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – President-elect Barack Obama plans to give “a major address” in an Islamic capital soon after taking office as he seeks to mend America’s image in the Muslim world, a Chicago Tribune interview said.

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” Obama said in the interview published late Tuesday on the Tribune’s website.

Obama promised an “unrelenting” desire to “create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of good will who want their citizens and ours to prosper together.”

The world “is ready for that message.”

We have drafted a letter congratulating President-Elect Barack Obama. This is a general letter from the Jewish grassroots supporters of the president-elect, including members of many different volunteer groups (such as the numerous Jewish MyBO groups) as well as Jewish Outreach volunteers, and so on. This is intended to be a letter from all of you — the supporters, volunteers, and contributors.  Please join us in sharing our joy with President-Elect Obama as well as our commitment to carry on the movement for change.

(Click “full article” to sign the letter)

From Menachem Rosensaft, Founding Chairman of the International Network of Chidlren of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, published in The Huffington Post:

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism.”

While these words seem tailor made for the divisive rhetoric of the McCain campaign, they were actually spoken more than 58 years ago on the floor of the United States Senate by Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Maine in her historic repudiation of the vicious character assassinations hurled by Senator Joseph McCarthy against countless Americans. Speaking on behalf of herself and six other Republican Senators, she said that, “The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as ‘Communists’ or ‘Fascists’ by their opponents.”

The more popular epithets emanating from present-day Republican apparatchiks and the other flacks associated with the 2008 McCain campaign are “terrorist,” “Muslim,” and “anti-American,” but their intent is the same as the red scare labels used so effectively by their McCarthyite role models: to depict their political adversaries generally, and Barack Obama specifically, as somehow dangerous, subversive, even evil.

Read more in The Huffington Post…

The McCain campaign and its allies have begun an unprecedented nationwide negative campaign that uses robocalls, direct mail, and other techniques to quietly poison voters’ information with lies and fear tactics.  The Obama campaign’s new “Under the Radar” Web site is an effort to track some of the most toxic attacks — all of which are approved by the McCain campaign or its Republican partners.

Click here to visit the “Under the Radar” site.  Click here to report any inappropriate or hateful campaign material or call you’ve received.

I am a strong supporter of Israel (though sometimes critical of specific policies). I am also a strong supporter of Barack Obama (though I favored Hillary Clinton during the primaries). I am now getting dozens of emails asking me how as a supporter of Israel I can vote for Barack Obama. Let me explain.

I think that on the important issues relating to Israel, both Senator McCain and Senator Obama score very high. During the debates each candidate has gone out of his and her way to emphasize strong support for Israel as an American ally and a bastion of democracy in a dangerous neighborhood. They have also expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against the nuclear threat posed by Iran which has sworn to wipe Israel off the map and the need to prevent another Holocaust.

There may be some difference in nuance among the candidates, especially with regard to negotiations with Iran, but supporters of Israel should not base their voting decision on which party or which candidates support Israel more enthusiastically. In the United States, Israel is not a divisive issue, and voting for President is not a referendum on support for Israel, at least among the major parties.

…

Why then do I favor Obama over McCain? First, because I support him on policies unrelated to Israel, such as the Supreme Court, women’s rights, separation of church and state and the economy. But I also prefer Obama to McCain on the issue of Israel. How can I say that if I have just acknowledged that on the issues they both seem to support Israel to an equal degree? …

Read more from The Huffington Post…

Jewish voters nationwide have grown increasingly comfortable with voting for Barack Obama for president since the Illinois senator secured the Democratic nomination in June.  They now favor Obama over John McCain by more than 3 to 1, 74% to 22%.

Read more from Gallup…

By Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb

It’s a choice between life and death, says Deuteronomy 30:19 - we should choose life (uvacharta bachayim), so that we and our descendants may live. Intergenerational survival is on the line, today, with the ecological choices we each make. Protecting Creation with all the strength we can muster is a mitzvah¹, which reverberates l’dor vador, across the generations.

By a wide margin, the Obama-Biden ticket best chooses life, by better protecting our sacred, fragile home. With a destabilized global climate, “choosing life” goes way beyond issues of choice and rights - it means taking responsibility for preserving our environment rather than attempting singlemindedly to plunder it. John McCain once seemed to appreciate this responsibility more than many Republicans, but the policies he has espoused during his presidential campaign and his choice of running mate now put him at the back of the pack.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, feels this sense of responsibility in his kishkes; so does Joe Biden. That’s why we should choose them. Let these four specifics suffice:

Let’s face it: Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not at the top of the agenda of either of the two nominees for president of the United States. A columnist in what is the other Israeli newspaper for Americans wrote recently that, according to advisers to each of the candidates, a solution to the century-old dispute between Jews and Arabs is far down any of their litanies of urgent matters. For John McCain there are 30 global crises ahead of yours…and mine. For Barack Obama there are 42. Not to worry. This is good.

Read more at The Jerusalem Post…

Posted by Aaron Keyak on the NJDC blog
The Cleveland Jewish News received a strong response after they ran ads by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC). The letters speak for themselves. Here are some excerpts.

Read more from the NJDC blog…

(Imported from http://jewneric.com/palins-pastor-problems-vs-obamas/2008/10/05/…)

I recently wrote a post on my personal blog that has been getting some people kind of heated. I posted some videos and a sermon given at Sarah Palin’s church, which cause me grave concern over the possibility of her being elected vice president. I’d like to clarify some things.

First of all, the question arose as to what part of the sermon that I posted I was referencing. The speaker of the sermon, David Brickner, is the executive director of Jews for Jesus. He was an invited guest of Sarah Palin’s church, where he spoke about his mission in Israel. What he said was that terrorism in Israel is a judgment against the Jews for not accepting Jesus.

The second question that was asked was whether I should be concerned by comments made by a guest speaker to Sarah Palin’s church. The answer is yes, as one of the videos shows an interview in which the pastor of her church said he would definitely re-invite David Brickner to speak at his church, even after hearing what he said the first time. Brickner’s beliefs are in sync with that of the church and its membership.

The third question that was asked - and this was the biggie - was whether I really want to get into a debate about pastor problems, when Obama has his own problem, especially since Obama was a member of the church where Jeremiah Wright spoke repeatedly against the United States and Obama had a very close relationship with Wright.