Posted on 04/25/2007 6:55:13 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Tuesday that America needs to ask Israel to help change the status quo in its conflict with the Palestinians, the only candidate at a National Jewish Democratic Council conference to suggest that there is any onus on the Jewish state when it comes to making peace with its neighbors.
"The United States government and an Obama presidency cannot ask Israel to take risks with respect to its security," he told the crowd of Democratic activists and campaign contributors. "But it can ask Israel to say that it is still possible for us to allow more than just this status quo of fear, terror, division. That can't be our long-term aspiration."
Freshman senator Barack Obama's appeal to change the status quo of American politics has propelled him into the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders, and he evinced the same optimism on the intractable Israeli-Palestinian issue.
It's important to be "hard-headed and clear-eyed about the dangers" in the Middle East, Obama said.
"We also have to recognize that the status quo is not inevitable, that we can aspire to something greater," he continued, "we should want to have that difficult, tough discussion...about how we're going to arrive at what I think everybody wants, which is two states living side by side in peace and security."
The audience applauded his words, which came in response to a question on how firm his backing for Israel was in light of the support he has received throughout his career from the Muslim American community.
Obama said that the premise of the query was "false," as the support he's received from the Jewish community "has been far more significant than any support I've received in the Muslim American community, although I welcome and actively seek support in the Muslim community as well." He also noted that he spent some of his childhood overseas in Muslim-dominated Indonesia. There, he learned some of the local vocabulary and customs.
"It allows me to say to them things that perhaps other presidents can't say," he said, also to applause.
Obama's speech followed those of Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. All the major Democratic candidates are participating in the three-day conference, with Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and New York Senator Hillary Clinton speaking later Tuesday or on Wednesday morning.
Despite growing public support for American involvement in Iraq, the candidates told the audience that the US must stay a strong player in the Middle East.
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the first candidate to speak to a three-day National Jewish Democratic Council conference which opened Monday, called for active engagement with Iran and Syria.
Both Edwards and Dodd, who opened the conference Tuesday morning, called for tightening economic sanctions against Teheran as the primary way to pressure the Islamic Republic to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, though they also said that no option should be taken off the table.
The Democratic candidates said that America must wean itself off of foreign oil, a popular campaign theme that many on the other side of the aisle have also embraced.
Biden told the crowd to much applause, "We don't have an axis of evil, we have an axis of oil that's tying up foreign policy so that we're in knots."
Biden also criticized the Bush administration for preventing Israel from exploring options for peace with Syria and "outsourcing" foreign policy to Saudi Arabia, which brokered a deal between Hamas and Fatah to form a Palestinian Authority unity government giving Hamas "legitimacy" for "nothing in Iran."
Edwards blasted the White House for its close relations with Saudi Arabia and said that the country "should deal with the Saudis with a very much arm length [approach]."
If you don't your country will be sacrificed to the Muslim horde!
The sanctions didn’t kill anyone.
It was a myth based on manipulated statistics and modeling.
Obama is a jew hater... He won’t be happy until Radical Islamists are burning Jews alive in the streets of Europe... I guess then it will be too late to take action.. maybe half a million American GI’s will have to die to fix that situation.. Liberals have lost their minds.
“But it can ask Israel to say that it is still possible for us to allow more than just this status quo of fear, terror, division. That can’t be our long-term aspiration.”
I’m trying to figure out just what that means. Is “Israel” preventing “us” from aspiring for peace? Zionist mind control? Or is it “we” control the area and Israel won’t agree to have us “allow” peace? Something else?
Might as we11 b1ame the Jews for WWII whi1e you are at it. Obama was taught we11 in those Mus1im schoos.
Those dems are dancing with the devil. Israel cannot befriend the muzzie threat, only defeat it.
This guy is a total idiot, has he no respect for history or any knowledge thereof? Isreal has given everything but the kitchen sink to the ROP and yet they still want more. What onus is he talking about?
Israel, the only country that has defeated it’s enemies in combat and been forced to give back conquered territory.
What Obama would like is for Israelis to jump into the sea and drown in mass suicide.
Sounds like his Moslem “roots” are showing through.
The only onus that Israel has is the onus to keep the land that GOD has decreed as theirs and take back that which they have given away in an attempt at appeasement.
If for no other reason … Balfour Accords
“When Madeline Albright was confronted with the accusation of 500,000 dead Iraqi children caused by the sanctions, she did not deny it, she justified it on the basis of the threat posed by Saddam.”
I used to think there might be something to it, but now know it was a UN scam co-written by an Iraqi. It was concocted with phony stats, birth certificates, and assumptions like women chose not to have fewer babies, many people left Iraq in those days, etc.
What they didn’t look at was death certificates. AS we have learned, Iraq isn’t Afghanistan, it has/had a relatively sophisticated medical system and burequcracy.
The Albright tv interview is famous “proof.” the way I read it, Albright was confronted with challenging the veracity of the UN - something she was ideologically loath to do.
Yes, Barack HUSSEIN Obama was. If he now says he became a Christian, why didn’t TROP put a fatwa contact out on him?
About the only act by Israel that would appease the muslims would be for every Jewish man, woman and child to rush into the sea like so many Lemmings.
My great fear is that once we’re out of the region, the muslims will regroup and stand down from offing one another long enough to present a serious threat to Israel. Isreal will probably go nuclear — literally — and the Ruskies and/or Chinese will weigh in.
Can you say “Armageddon?”
Can someone explain why it seems that the onus is always on Israel to compromise?
Does anyone else wonder why the phrase “West Bank” is always preceeded by the word “occupied?” Why don’t we then talk about occupied East Prussia or occupied South Tyrol?
Furthermore, BHO is a mulatto, a graduate of a madrassa, an exclusive Hawaian prep school, and of Harvard University. Given the state of Political Correctness, Affirmative Action, and the drive toward Diversity, the man is practically on the endangered species list. Thus, the rule is he is never to be criticized, only praised, or forgiven.
Besides, as a member of all these protected groups, only he can criticize Hillary with impunity. If I were to say that the silly slut does the worst Aunt Jemima imitation I has evah hurd, I would be severely castigated or another word that rhymes wit dat that really hurts.
OTOH, BHO can say it every day, while Hillary's friend, The Rev. Al Sharpton smirks in the background. IMHO, BHO's job was to slash Hillary while the Democrats make up their mind whom they really want. He's done OK with that. He's made the black Democrat's obligatory pro-Palestinian remark, but he hasn't kissed Mrs. Arafat on the lips ....yet.
Last I checked, it wasn’t Israel who broke the peace and started lobbing rockets at civilians. I can’t stand Obama. He give all future Black politicians a bad start by playing race and victim. We’re better than that. I want to see a Black leader with ideas and morals, who doesn’t flop like a flag in a hurricane.
ping
Is he also considered a Metrosexual?
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