Our World: The audacity of truth
It is hard to
believe, but in just two weeks, American voters will all but determine the
identities of the Democratic and Republican nominees for this year's presidential
elections. It is hard to believe because today, after a handful of early
primaries, neither side has even identified a frontrunner.
The open race,
unprecedented in recent history, is a consequence of the fragmentation of
America's political center. Ten years after Bill Clinton's impeachment; seven
years after President George W. Bush's contested victory in 2000; and five
years into the Iraq campaign, the cleavages both between the two major parties
and within them have given purchase to candidates and policies that would have
previously never made it out of the starting gate.
On the
Republican side, this phenomenon is being played out in the campaigns of
Congressman Ron Paul and Governor Mike Huckabee. On the Democratic side of the
aisle, it is manifested in Senator Barack Obama's campaign.
Last Saturday
Congressman Paul placed second in the Nevada primaries with 14 percent of the
vote. Paul, who has raised some $20 million in three months, owes much of his
mainstream support on both the Left and the Right to his pointed opposition to
the war in Iraq. At the same time, his campaign's quest for mainstream
respectability has been stymied repeatedly by the fact that neo-Nazi Web sites
have embraced Paul's candidacy.
Paul's showing
in Nevada was particularly impressive because a week before the Nevada
primaries, James Kirchick of the New Republic published an in-depth
investigative report on Paul's ideological background which showed that the
neo-Nazis' support for him is not unjustified. Kirchick's report was based on a
study of some three decades worth of mass-mailing political reports that have
been published under Paul's name.
Kirchick's
report, "Angry White Man" showed that between Paul's newsletters -
whose articles are generally unsigned - and his public statements, there are
strong indications that Paul shares the white supremacists' hatred of blacks,
Jews and homosexuals. Moreover, Paul has spoken in warm support for the
slave-owning Confederacy and the militia men who believe they must defend
themselves against the Federal government and a web of global governance
conspirators. He has also praised former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David
Duke.
Before
Kirchick's report, Paul outpolled Giuliani threefold in the early primary
states. And after the report, he had his best showing to date in Nevada.
LESS SHOCKING,
but still depressing is the candidacy of former Arkansas governor Mike
Huckabee. Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher is running an almost purely
sectorial campaign for the evangelical vote.
Huckabee targets
evangelicals by calling for the strengthening of America's Christian identity.
Interestingly, in his bid for Christian support, Huckabee has not embraced
evangelical advocacy of hawkish foreign policies and defense of Christian
communities in the Muslim world. To the contrary, like former president Jimmy
Carter, Huckabee advocates an emasculated foreign policy based on being nice to
other countries. He likens disputes with foreign countries to family squabbles
that can be solved by better communications. Following from this, Huckabee
claims that America's problems with Iran are the result of America's lack of
diplomatic relations with Iran.
To date,
Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses, and has achieved strong second and third places
in the other primary states. He lost South Carolina to Senator John McCain by a
mere three points. But he doesn't appear to be made to last. His appeal to
non-evangelical voters is almost nonexistent and without non-evangelical
supporters, he has no chance of winning the Republican nomination.
IN CONTRAST to
Paul and Huckabee, Barack Obama has a good chance of securing his party's
nomination for president and winning the general election. And this is
disturbing because like Paul, he enjoys the support of hateful bigots. And like
Paul and Huckabee, he holds foreign policy positions which are based on the
notion that the global jihad is not a serious threat.
Although the
rumors that Obama - whose father and step-father were Muslims and who was
educated in Muslim schools in Indonesia - is a Muslim are demonstrably false,
his Christian affiliations are a cause for alarm in and of themselves.
Obama belongs to
the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Its minister and Obama's
spiritual adviser is Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
In an
investigative report on Obama published last week by the American Thinker Web
site, Ed Lasky documented multiple examples of Wright's anti-Jewish and
anti-white animus. Wright has called for divestment from Israel and refers to
Israel as a "racist" state. Theologically, he believes that the true
"Chosen People" are the blacks. Indeed, he is a black supremacist. He
believes that black values are superior to middle class American values and
that blacks should isolate themselves from the wider American society.
Wright is a
long-time friend of the virulently anti-Semitic head of the Nation of Islam -
fellow Chicagoan Louis Farrakhan. The two traveled together to Libya some years
ago to pay homage to Muammar Gaddafi. Last year Wright presented Farrakhan with
a "Lifetime Achievement" award.
Although last
week Obama issued a statement condemning Farrakhan for his anti-Semitism, he
did not disavow Wright - who married him and baptized his daughters. Obama has
taken no steps to moderate his church's anti-Israel invective.
OBAMA'S
affiliation with Wright aligns with his choice of financial backers and foreign
policy advisors. To varying degrees, all of them exhibit hostility towards
Israel and support for appeasing jihadists.
As Lasky notes,
Obama has received generous support from billionaire George Soros. In recent
years, Soros has devoted himself to replacing politicians who support fighting
the forces of global terror and supporting Israel with politicians who support
appeasing jihadists and dumping Israel.
As a member of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama opposed defining Iran's
Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. He calls for the US to withdraw from
Iraq - only to return if genocide is being carried out and then, only as part
of an international force. He also supports opening negotiations with Iran even
if the Iranians continue to enrich uranium. In forming these views, he is
assisted by his foreign policy team which includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark
Brzezinski, Anthony Lake, Susan Rice and Robert Malley.
All of these
people are known either for their anti-Israel views or their pro-Arab views -
or both. Malley, a Palestinian apologist invented and propagated the false
claim that the 2000 Camp David summit between the Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat and then prime minister Ehud Barak failed because Israel wasn't serious
about giving the Palestinians a state. This view is disputed by Barak and
Clinton.
For her part, as
chief foreign policy advisor to Senator John Kerry during the 2004 presidential
elections, Susan Rice reportedly convinced Kerry to announce that if elected he
would appoint Jimmy Carter and James Baker to serve as his envoys for Middle
East peace.
Mark Brzezinski
has openly called for unconditional negotiations with Iran. For more than 30
years, Zbigniew Brzezinski has distinguished himself as one of Israel's
greatest foes in Washington.
UNFORTUNATELY,
in the anti-war frenzy now gripping much of the Democratic Party, one could say
that there is nothing notable about the fact that Obama has hired anti-Israel
foreign policy advisors, attends an anti-Israel church, and receives financial
backing from anti-Israel billionaires. But even in this atmosphere Obama stands
out - for not only does he theoretically support appeasement, he is actively
advancing the interests of Islamists seeking to take control over a state
allied with the US.
Kenya currently
teeters at the edge of political chaos and civil war in the wake of the
disputed Dec. 27 presidential elections. Those elections pitted incumbent
President Mwai Kibaki against Raila Odinga who leads the Orange Democratic
Movement. While the polls showed the public favoring Odinga, Kibaki was
declared the winner. Odinga rejected the results and his supporters have gone
on rampages throughout the country that have killed some 700 people so far.
Fifty people were murdered when a pro-Odinga mob set ablaze a church in which
they were hiding.
Kibaki is close
ally of the US in the war against Islamic terror. In stark contrast, Odinga is
an ally of Islamic extremists. On August 29 Odinga wrote a letter to Kenya's
pro-jihadist National Muslim Leaders Forum. There he pledged that if elected he
would establish Sharia courts throughout the country; enact Islamic dress codes
for women; ban alcohol and pork; indoctrinate schoolchildren in the tenets of
Islam; ban Christian missionary activities, and dismiss the police
commissioner, "Who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and
Zionists."
Although Odinga
is an Anglican, he referred to Islam as the "one true religion" and
scorned Christians as "worshipers of the cross."
Obama strongly
supports Odinga who claims to be his cousin. As Daniel Johnson reported
recently in the New York Sun, during his 2006 visit to Kenya, Obama was
so outspoken in his support for Odinga that the Kenyan government complained to
the State Department that Obama was interfering with the internal politics of
the country. After the Dec. 27 elections Obama interrupted a campaign
appearance in New Hampshire to take a call from Odinga.
THE PAST 10
years have not been good ones for the American political landscape. And in
times of acrimony and fragmentation, people tend to vote their prejudices. The
candidacies of Paul, Huckabee and Obama are testimonies to this fact.
It can only be
hoped that in the coming weeks and months ahead of the presidential election,
the political center of American politics will reassert itself and that the
final race will be between leaders who abjure bigotry and understand that
foreign policy is neither about minding your business nor being polite. It is
about opposing enemies, supporting allies and knowing the difference between
them.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1200572509823&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull