TPM Cafe's M.J. Rosenberg: Obama at AIPAC this Friday. Will this be his Sister Soulja moment?

[flpoljunkie]

We will see...but I somehow think the AIPAC crowd would definitely not appreciate a call for our being an honest broker in the Middle East...

Obama at AIPAC This Friday

By M.J. Rosenberg

This should be interesting.

Barack Obama will be delivering a major address at an AIPAC conference on Friday. Will this be his Sister Soulja moment where he tells a powerful interest group something it does not want to hear, specifically that as President he will embrace the role of honest broker and help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace and security.

This speech also provides him with the opportunity to spell out how his Mideast policies would differ from Bush's, Edwards' and Hillary's.

My guess is that he'll give a real pro-Israel speech i.e. he will explain why Israel is important to him and why it will require strong fair leadership from America to secure its future.

The status quo is deadly for Israel (not to mention US interests in the region). The status quo lobby does not understand that. But Obama surely does.

To be pro-Israel today requires being pro-Palestinian and pro-peace too. The alternative (more of the same topped off perhaps with a war with Iran) is the surest way to kill the Zionist dream along with ending the lives of countless Israelis and Palestinians. Support for the "same old, same old" may elicit cheers in Chicago but is certainly not tantamount to support for Israel. It is, in fact, quite the opposite.

Let's see what Obama says. The last thing I expect from this Presidential candidate is campaign boilerplate. We'll know soon enough.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/mar/01/obama_at_aipac_this_friday

[peacetalksforall]

1. Thanks for the heads up. I'll follow what this person has to say

about it - post speech. And I'll go out of my way to hear the entire speech myself. This is the do or die moment for me about Obama - I have NO repsect for AIPAC (based on what I know so far) and my stomach turned just reading that he will speak there. I was apalled at the Hillary speech to them.

This is critical for me - even with Obama named as a VP nominee by someone who might surpass his vote.

I feel sorry for all the candidates who have to raise money in big chunks of donations. I feel sorry for candidates who have to juggle all the interests.

Yes, I hope he honors oppressed people tomorrow for surely Palestinians, as imperfect as they have been; as imperfect as we are, are oppressed. They were picked to keep the perpetual war going and still fill that role, though now wonderfully expanded in the eyes of war mongers.

I hope he says nothing that supports perpetual war and nothing that is empty or pandering. Big challenge. Impossible?

[ieoeja]

3. He's a big Israeli supporter.

But he has also stated that the Middle East (and the United States) are best served when the US has maintained some sort of balance. Historically the US entered the Mideast fray as a middle man. Unlike the European powers and some of the local Mideast powers (e.g. Turkey, Persia/Iran, Arabia), the US never showed any interest in ruling the lands inhabited by Arabs. That is why everyone still looks to the US to take the lead in any Mideast peace efforts: we had the power without the history of abuse.

Iraq may have changed all that. Hopefully, the Muslims will see Iraq as an abberation on the part of a single administration. On the other hand, every single Arab nation gave GHW Bush full support in Gulf War I largely because of the trust earned by Carter, so it would hardly be surprising to see them not trust us because of Idiot.

[donsu]

4. agree with you - this will show how cowardly or not he is

nt

[Adelante]

2. A very big test, this one

Let's see how he does. Thanks for posting.