How Obama lost my vote

June 10th, 2008 at 08:35am reckless G 277

If  I had ever seriously considered voting for Obama, I certainly would have changed my mind by now.

Obama hit his first strike with me when he based his campaign on slogans and platitudes. I still have no idea what Obama intends to change in this country. I know it isn’t foreign policy. Other than pulling a few thousand troops out of Iraq, he hasn’t promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he hasn’t talked about working to repair the rift between Israel and the Arab world. He even backed off of his claim that he would sit down and talk to our enemies, rather than bomb them into submission. I know it isn’t domestic policy. Other than giving lipservice to universal health care, he hasn’t made clear how he will work to eliminate the inequalities in our social systems. Nor has he seriously addressed illegal immigration. His voting record shows favoritism toward corporations at the expense of the little guy. That’s not change. That doesn’t give me hope.

Then there was the Pastor Wright issue. Unlike almost everyone I know, I actually admire Wright and agree with most of what I’ve heard him say. With few exceptions, his message is the same one I’ve been preaching since 9/11; that the U.S. experienced blowback as a result of errant foreign policies, or as Wright put it; “The chickens came home to roost.” He rightly pointed out that unjust U.S. policies, while enriching the upper class, make America vulnerable to attack. Though he is backed up by numerous foreign policy experts as well as the 9/11 Commission Report, Wright was branded anti- American.

Wright was also lambasted for declaring that America is still a nation divided by race, with the black population as a whole suffering from discrimination and lack of fair opportunity. Now before you go shouting “We have a black presidential nominee!” be aware that this premise is backed up by extensive research. It’s a fact that African Americans are consistently poorer, less educated, and less healthy than whites in America. Wright’s speeches on these inequalities have been described as the racist rantings of a separatist, but as a pastor, isn’t it part of his calling to point out injustice and to work toward instilling righteousness in his community?

In my opinion, Wright was shining the light on some ugly truths that most people in America don’t want to hear because it shatters their perception that the U.S. is pure and good, that we treat everyone equally, and we work for peace and justice here and abroad. But Obama in his race for the power seat, threw his pastor under the bus. Instead of using the opportunity as a platform to address some real foreign and domestic policy problems, Obama first disavowed Wright’s message, then when the heat didn’t fully let off, he quit his church. That cowardly and hypocritical act was strike two for me.

Then last week, in a speech to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, Obama vowed that Jerusalem would be the undivided capital of Israel. Aside from being a major gaffe regarding the peace building efforts of the last 40 years, this statement enraged the entire Arab world. Good going possible future president, that’s just what we need right now!

This event didn't even cause a ripple in American news, so for those of you who, like Obama have no clue that the future of Jerusalem is one of the pivotal issues in Middle East peace negotiations, let Wikipedia briefly enlighten you.

“As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations." The international regime was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents of Jerusalem were to decide the future regime of the city. (Jerusalem had a Jewish majority both in 1948 and in 1958.) However, this plan was not implemented as the Haganah and the Jordanian Arab Legion fought for control of the city. On May 28, the Arab Legion gained control over the Old City; all of its Jewish inhabitants were either taken prisoner or handed over to the Red Cross to be permanently transferred to Israeli-controlled areas.

The 1948 War occasioned massive displacement of Arab and Jewish populations shifting space in conjunction with shifts in control. Due to mob and militia violence on both sides, 1,500 of the 3,500 (mostly ultra-Orthodox) Jews in the Old City moved to west Jerusalem as a unit. The Arab town of Lifta (today within the bounds of Jerusalem) was captured by the nascent Israeli troops in 1948, and its residents were loaded on trucks and taken to East Jerusalem. In addition to the depopulation of thousands of Arabs from Jerusalem's surrounding villages of Lifta, Deir Yassin, Ein Karem, and al-Maliha, all predominantly Arab urban centers ringing the western side of Jerusalem's old city were transferred to Israeli control.

At the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan. The ceasefire line established through the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from 1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. Contrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be the capital of Israel. This action, however, was criticized in the non-binding UNSC resolution 478, which declared the assertion of sovereignty to be "null and void." Further, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian Arabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state. They also refer to Security Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and other actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem. The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.”

So Obama, clearly unaware of the critical status of Jerusalem in peace negotiations and trying to please the super-powerful Israel lobby, made a dumb comment that he then had to retract in order to minimize the damage to his pretended image as a savvy leader. This is the guy we want commanding foreign policy and peace negotiations in the Middle East?

Strike three Obama. You’re out.

Entry Filed under: Politics, Colorado, Women, Foreign Policy, United Post