Hillary and Obama Report To HQ

Well, it's good to know that even the principals have better things to do than run a silly political campaign. On the day after the last primaries -- i.e. last Wednesday -- both Hillary and Obama made beelines over to AIPAC to bow, scrape, present burnt offerings (rumors that these included ashes of dead American soliders are unconfirmed), and pledge undying loyalty to Israel. Why is it that a candidate can wait until Inauguration Day to pledge loyalty to the U.S., but he (or she) has to pledge loyalty to Israel now? Does anyone but me see something just slightly out of whack in all this? Guess not. In any case, there is, I guess, a bit of understandable queasiness as to how friendly a president whose middle name is Hussein will be to the Israeli cause. Not only that, but the history of Black-Jewish relations in this country has not always been a totally happy one. But hey, if anyone has any doubts, they can always swing over to John McCain, who promises to perpetuate the Bush II foreign policy as far as possible without literally bankrupting the United States -- after which he promises to perpetuate it even further. So that ought to reassure someone, it seems to me. But I notice a certain lack of resolve among the Bushites of late. You don't suppose they're trying not to queer the deal for McCain, do you? Gee, maybe Israel really will have to take on Iran all by itself, unless Cheney gets his act together sometime in the next eight months.

At this point, I'll turn the remainder of my time over to Daoud Kuttab, who says it better than I can. Please go to
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/so-sad-to-see-obama-surre_b_105604.html. And see also http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-tolan/undivided-allegiance-the_b_105757.html. Some people out there recognize suicidal tendencies when they see them.