clintonism and the theology of contempt |
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WASHINGTON -- As she embarks on her campaign to represent New York in the Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton will be able to tap a little-known aspect of her family background -- her maternal grandmother was married to a Russian-born Jew named Max Rosenberg, and Mrs. Clinton's half-aunt, Adeline Friedman, was a Jew who was interred at a Jewish mortuary. While Mrs. Clinton has been the subject of at least three book-length biographies and numerous newspaper and magazine profiles, the colorful story of the first lady's grandmother, a feisty woman who carried the name Della Rosenberg, has until now been unknown even to many of Mrs. Clinton's closest friends. After the Forward asked about the matter this week, Mrs. Clinton said through a spokesman that she had "very fond memories" of Max Rosenberg. Two members of the Rosenberg family told the Forward this week that Mrs. Clinton remained in contact with her half-aunt Adeline until Adeline's death last year. As Mrs. Clinton prepares to run for Senate in a state where Jewish voters are an important swing vote, the fact that the first lady had a grandmother named Rosenberg may provide a boost, some political analysts say. To be sure, Mrs. Clinton is herself a Methodist, and Jewish voters in New York have a record of paying more attention at the ballot booth to policy than to religion or cultural background. And no one is comparing Mrs. Clinton's story to that of Secretary of State Albright, whose parents hid their Jewish roots from their daughter. Still, the Rosenberg story opens a window into Mrs. Clinton's warm relations with the Jewish community and into the concern for family issues that have marked her involvement in public policy. "Jews will now feel that she's almost one of their own. It will make it easier for Jews to connect with her," said a New York political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, a Democrat. "People will feel that she's more like them and they'll be more likely to listen to what she has to say." Mr. Sheinkopf cautioned that "the professional Hillary-haters will say, 'why didn't she tell us sooner,' but it won't matter. It will help her with the Jewish voters immensely. The overall impact will be favorable." The director of New York University's Taub Urban Research Center, Mitchell Moss, said the news will have a positive effect on Mrs. Clinton's campaign. "I think it humanizes her. Hillary's family background is going to be both engaging and interesting to the voters of New York," said Mr. Moss, speaking from Jerusalem. "This new revelation humanizes Hillary and points out that she's not only a wife and a mother, but also a granddaughter." Meet Hillary Clinton's Grandmother, Della Rosenberg
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"This new revelation humanizes Hillary and points out that she's not only a wife and a mother, but also a granddaughter." If ever there was a pregnant straight line....
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NEW YORK, Aug. 6 - The New York-based Forward magazine stepped forward with a story published on Aug. 6 which disclosed some distant Jewish family ties of Hillary Clinton, a would-be senator from New York. According to the story, Hillary's grandmother, nÈe Della Murray of Aurora, IL, married a Russian-born Jew, Max Rosenberg, in the 1930s. They had one child, a girl. But claiming Hillary's Jewish roots on the basis of that marriage is a real stretch. For, this was Della's second marriage, well after the birth of Hillary's mother, Dorothy Emma Howell in 1919. In other words, Rosenberg was no blood relative to Hillary. And her grandmother never converted to Judaism. But this did not stop some Jews from adopting Hillary as one of their own anyway, especially now that she is contemplating a run for the New York Senate seat vacated by Daniel Moynahan [sic]. "Jews will now feel that she's almost one of their own. It will make it easier for Jews to connect with her," a New York political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, a Democrat, told the Forward magazine. "People will feel that she's more like them and they'll be more likely to listen to what she has to say." But Mr. Sheinkopf cautioned that "professional Hillary-haters will say, 'why didn't she tell us sooner,' but it won't matter. It will help her with the Jewish voters immensely. The overall impact will be favorable." ... As for the Jews who are quick to embrace the... would-be Senator as of one their own, just because her grandmother had married a Jew after divorcing Hillary's grandfather, here's something for them to chew on. This dame all seasons and vote-for-me reasons has already made history. She was the first ever First Lady to introduce the celebration of an Islamic religious holiday at the White House. Funny Mr. Scheinkopf, the political analyst, didn't mention that? But we did. Here's an excerpt from the TiM Bulletin 96-04, Apr. 13, 1996, whose title was "Ayatollah Klintomeini." The piece was actually about how the Clinton administration's pro-Islamic foreign policy is aimed at destroying both Russia and Europe. But it also contained the following interesting episode about Hillary:
For the full text of the "Ayatollah Klintonmeini" piece...check out http://www.truthinmedia.org/Bulletins/tim96-04a.html. But rather than the Jewish angle, which the New York magazine tried to play up, we have found much more revealing the following segment from the Forward magazine story about Hillary's grandmother's first marriage: "In his divorce petition, Edwin Howell said that when he came home from work one day in January 1926, his wife "insisted on wanting to go out, which she had been doing right up to date for a period of five or six months ... I couldn't go. I worked most all the time. She became abusive and angry, and scratched and bit me, flared up at me." While claims of violence made in the context of divorce cases can be questionable, especially since at the time they were one of the only ways to win a divorce, the accusation was in this case corroborated by two witnesses. Of course, the sympathetic New York magazine tried to put a positive spin on Hillary grandmother's violent temper: "The Feisty Wife of a Yiddish-Speaking Jewish Immigrant," read the subheading of the story, adding that "Family Secret's a Boost For Her Senate Chances" (see http://www.forward.com/CURRENT/news.html). But at least now we know where the First Lady's famous temper comes from.... Hillary Clinton's Jewish Family Ties Unearthed |
