Conservatives play the anti-Semitism card Against Obama

[geek tragedy]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/08/conservatives-play-anti-semitism-card-vs-obama.html

But where is the evidence that Obama himself has engaged in this kind of rhetoric? His critics rely heavily on the power of translation. The various J’accuse! columns are filled with inflammatory terms — “disloyal,” “Jewish lobby” — that the authors use to describe Obama, but that Obama did not actually use. The headline for Abrams's column in The Weekly Standard — “Obama and the ‘Amen Corner’” — features a phrase uttered not by Obama but by Pat Buchanan more than two decades ago. In the absence of direct evidence, or even indirect evidence, the critics instead read deeply into straightforward claims Obama has made.

His most inflammatory passage is from a speech defending the Iran deal last month, in which Obama reminded his audience that most of the critics of the deal argued for the Iraq War:

Between now and the congressional vote in September, you are going to hear a lot of arguments against this deal, backed by tens of millions of dollars in advertising. And if the rhetoric in these ads and the accompanying commentary sounds familiar, it should, for many of the same people who argued for the war in Iraq are now making the case against the Iran nuclear deal.

This reference to supporters of the Iraq War could be seen as anti-Semitic if Obama considered the Iraq War a Jewish project. But he has never said anything like this, and there’s no reason to think he believes it. Obama’s invocation of the Iraq War is anti-Semitic if you assume that Obama’s criticism of the Iraq War is rooted in anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitic theme is implanted completely by his critics. It exists nowhere in or near the text of Obama's own words.

The other line seized upon by the critics comes via news reports. The offending passage is a New York Times report that “The president said he understood the pressures that senators face from donors and others.” This seems like not just an obvious description of political reality, but a sympathetic one. Lobbying and political donations play an important role in American politics on a wide range of issues, including foreign policy. It’s not anti-Semitic to acknowledge the existence of a pro-Israel lobby, nor is it anti-Semitic to criticize lobbyists — a common rhetorical trope in politics. What’s anti-Semitic is to treat this lobby as singularly nefarious. Obama’s reported statement merely acknowledges the obvious fact that there is lobbying against the Iran deal and expresses sympathy with senators who need to account for this lobbying. Now, here is Abrams, in The Weekly Standard, surrounding Obama’s anodyne statement with lurid meanings plucked from his own runaway imagination:

[padfun]

1. I'm behind our president on this one.

Sorry cons, your shtick just smells here.

[6chars]

2. nothing to see here

move along

[geek tragedy]

3. oh look, here you are again passive-aggressively accusing the president

of anti-Semitism.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7058103

At least Elliot Abrams is upfront about his agenda.

[6chars]

4. that's not what i said

However, Jews of many political stripes have been writing and speaking about how uncomfortable they are with the rhetoric emanating from the White House and its surrogates. This includes supporters of the Iran deal and supporters of Obama, as well as opponents of the deal. Other than on the extreme, no one is saying the President is anti-semitic, but they are saying that the rhetoric is using phrases that play on long-standing anti-semitic stereotypes and themes. If all these Obama supporters are saying that this is making them uncomfortable, he should listen instead of - as happens at DU -saying that every one of them is cynically trying to avoid legitimate criticism by crying about anti-semitism. Actually, one of the new themes of anti-semitism is that Jews like to charge anti-semitism. This has the effect (desired in some cases) of making it easier for anti-semites to get away with dog whistles. Anway, Obama should pay attention to the Jews who are telling him the rhetoric has gone too far.

[geek tragedy]

5. so you are accusing Obama of engaging in anti-semitic rhetoric.

Thus far it's only been opponents of the deal, and of the President, making these bogus charges. Not his supporters, his opponents.

Most Jews do not make accusations of anti-Semitism frivolously. But there are some people--Jews and non-Jews--who do, and do so cynically with sinister intent. And that is what's happening re: the Iran agreement.

Your attempt to paint the president as a Jew-baiter-in-chief is pretty good evidence of what your agenda is--Bomb Bomb Iran.
People have been trying this crap since 2007. It hasn't worked yet and it won't work now.

[6chars]

6. why no.

The rhetoric is what it is. The people - Jews - who have been expressing discomfort with it include supporters of the deal. It is possible - likely - that what these people are hearing is not what Obama intends. But now that they are telling him how it makes them uncomfortable and why, he should take note of that. or he could just say they are a bunch of Jews making their typical false claims of anti-semitism. That would go over well with some, not others.

[geek tragedy]

7. These people are all rightwing writers who are agitating for a war with Iran.

People supporting the deal are not making this claim you and yours are making.

Team Neocon has been beating the "Obama is an Israel-hating anti-Semite" for a long time now. You all need to get a different tune.

[6chars]

10. you wouldn't know anti-semitism

from cherry pie. Not the best person to make judgments about what is and what isn't.

[geek tragedy]

11. You're not fooling anyone, you realize that, right?

To their credit, Tablet published a rebuttal to their odious smear against Obama.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/192789/the-white-houses-iran-sell-and-the-jews-a-debate

Read it and comprehend, if you are willing.

[6chars]

15. i'm not trying to fool people like you are

so yes, i realize that.

[geek tragedy]

16. you must be terribly frustrated, no one's buying your

fantasies that the Iran deal is a betrayal of Israel and that Obama is using anti-Semitic rhetoric.

[6chars]

17. you are confused

while i do not say that this deal is a betrayal of israel, i am not frustrated that you and a few others (who, as far as I can tell, believe there should be no state of Israel) want to ignore anyone who might have concerns about it. and while i do not say Obama is using anti-semitic rhetoric (although it is certainly rhetoric that is making a lot of Jews uncomfortable, and he should rethink it) i am not frustrated that you and a few others who (while not anti-semitic) are also are not concerned by "Death to Israel" are not concerned by less extreme rhetoric. It is to be expected.

[Hekate]

8. KnR, geek. Just when I think the public sphere can't possibly get any more cynical...

[geek tragedy]

9. you can see the commentary in this thread for such cynicism nt

[Hekate]

12. I saw that. Thanks for engaging - I sure don't want to, but this is my thanks to you. >smh<

[geek tragedy]

13. elsewhere that poster (join date June 2015) cited Jeffrey Goldberg as a basis

for questioning Obama's judgment re: Iran.

Yes, the same Jeffrey Goldberg who wrote this in 2002:

There is not sufficient space, as well, for me to refute some of the arguments made in Slate over the past week against intervention, arguments made, I have noticed, by people with limited experience in the Middle East (Their lack of experience causes them to reach the naive conclusion that an invasion of Iraq will cause America to be loathed in the Middle East, rather than respected).

and this:

The administration is planning today to launch what many people would undoubtedly call a short-sighted and inexcusable act of aggression. In five years, however, I believe that the coming invasion of Iraq will be remembered as an act of profound morality.

[Hekate]

14. Oy. Oy oy oy. The Neocons are still alive. nt