Obama's speech to AIPAC, 4 June 2008

Very late post but I just watched the speech in its entirety (here) so it’s still worth it. (Plus James asked for it!)

We can listen to, and analyse his speech in two ways.

Either in the absolute value of its content, breaking it down and assuming he’s a big boy and knows what he’s saying and where that positions him.

OR - as a typical AIPAC speech, which means that we acknowledge that he’s kissing the buttocks of the Israel lobby and that he’d be draped in an Israeli flag if he had one handy (he did wear one on his lapel pin, though, alongside an American flag).

We have to do both, because, while we can excuse him for temporary madness - it is AIPAC after all, so he has to go a little nuts at the thought of the cash taps (or lack thereof); but he’s still a big boy and must be held to his words.

I’ll still cut him some slack, though.

Of course, he said everything he had to say: that he feels for the Israelis fearful for their lives, that he will do anything for Israel’s right to defend itself, that he will defend Israel against “all threats, from Gaza to Tehran”, etc.
Of course he absolved Israel of every responsibility in the past, present and future, in this world and all parallel ones.

Abbas is blah, Hamas totally sucks. Iran, long discussed, is the worst thing in the world since Britney Spears’ second album.
“Israel’s security” was mentioned nearly twice per minute and is probably more important than, hmm, keeping Britney away from the stage.

And he asked Arab countries to normalize with Israel. Ooooof course.

In short, Obama will bend over whenever Israel asks him to.

Actually - that's fine. And expected.

(Picture from armed with knowledge)

HOWEVER.

There was a lot of crap being said, and far-reaching crap moreover that we can’t let fly.

He believes that the 2006 Palestinian elections - which he opposed (audience clapping, clapping) led to a “Gaza controlled by Hamas with rockets raining down on Israel”.
Wow. That’s quite a shortcut. It’s like blaming Gutenberg for Danielle Steel’s novels...

He will stand by Palestinians “committed to crack down on terror and carry the burden of peacemaking”.
Juxtapose that with Edward Said’s timeless reminder that “Since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?” and you’ll know that Obama doesn’t read Said. Or, you know, History.

He did mention that Israel should - well, might want to - ease restrictions on the Palestinians and refrain from building new settlements (though expanding existing ones is okay? And new outposts, still okay?), “as agreed to do with the Bush administration” - so he doesn’t want to bear the stigma of having made Israel do something it doesn’t like, even if it means crediting Bush for it? Ridiculous.

“Petrodollars pay for weapons that kill American troops and Israeli citizens.”
WHAT?

And “Israeli action was entirely justifiable to end (the Syrian nuclear) threat”. Huh? Coming from someone who knows that the info about this very event (Israeli bombing a military (non-nuclear) building INSIDE Syria) is scarce and unconfirmed, a lawyer like him should know better.

As for the “Jerusalem must remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided” which earned him whistling and hurrays, all I can say is...

TOO MUCH TOO EARLY, BARRY BOY. I blame that on inexperience - and a stupid speechwriting crew.

Going against reason, justice, and International Law shouldn’t be used to get a few pats on the back at the AIPAC conference. That’s the kind go stuff you leave for real election time. Obama fired the fireworks six months before New Year’s Eve.

The problem is that now he’s forced to backtrack and explain why he said those obscenities. “Flip-flopping” was heard a lot in the days following the speech... and that will surely damage his campaign. (here's an example -- an aide explained the 'Undivided' comment by... "Obama meant that "the holy city won't be divided by barbed wire". Pffffwhahahahahaha).

I never had any illusions about Obama being anywhere near balanced when it came to the Middle East. He is, after all, American.

There is nevertheless a limit to how low a politician can stoop - or so I thought.

Oh, and he blamed Egypt for weapons entering Gaza. Asshole.

Give me my 25 dollars back, you son of a bitch.