[lbo-talk] Obama and Israel

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/4/07, Michael McIntyre <mcintyremichael at mac.com> wrote:
> I agree that Obama has an uncanny ability to say what people want to
> hear.  But:
> (1) During the period in question, he was State Senator for the 13th
> District in Illinois.  He had no significant Arab American
> constituency in that district, Left or otherwise, so there was no
> reason for him to pander to them.  (There is, by the way, a
> significant Jewish population in the district).
> (2) Ali Abunimah is awfully damned smart, and had reasonably good
> access to Obama during the period in question.  (Both Abunimah and
> Obama were affiliated with the University of Chicago at the time,
> which is no doubt how Abunimah got Obama to the event he
> photographed).  It's possible he was taken in, but I wouldn't want to
> rush to that conclusion.
> (3) As for, "why don't Arab-Americans simply organize a more powerful
> lobby."  Well, why don't we lbo-sters and our ilk simply organize the
> antiwar masses?  Why has Solidarity's once promising "rank and file
> strategy" fallen on such hard times?  I think successful political
> organization for collective action is the exception, not the rule,
> and I don't think there's any general theoretical explanation for
> success (pluralist or otherwise).

I agree that "successful political organization for collective action
is the exception, not the rule," but that leaves the question of why
the Israel lobby is successful and the Arab and Muslim American
organizations aren't, which is strange, for, on the question of Israel
and the Palestinians as well as US Middle East policy in general, the
view of the Israel lobby is sharply at odds with that of most Jewish
Americans, whereas organizations like the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, and so on fairly represent the mainstream of their
constituencies.  Moreover, the Israel lobby's view is at odds with not
only that of the constituency they claim to represent, but also the
mainstream view of the American public.  To be sure, the Israel lobby
has Christian Zionists on its side, but they are a minority, a sizable
minority as they are, and they generally don't vote Democrat.
-- 
Yoshie
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