640 ‘The Lobby’ in the News

Two items:

  • Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, barred from speaking at many American universities, are going to Israel to talk about the Israel lobby.
  • Sen. Barack Obama’s nauseating performance at AIPAC, in which he gave away occupied East Jerusalem with one careless line in exchange for votes and campaign contributions he probably already had. Disappointing because he set a policy on Jerusalem that will come back to haunt him and the Arab residents of East Jerusalem should he become president. Disappointing because after all his talk about standing up to the poisonous influence of lobbies in Washington, Obama paid obeisance to one of the most poisonous, only hours after clinching the Democratic nomination. I suppose he was talking about the evil clean-air lobby, the sinister no-nuke lobby, and those fifth-columnists, American farmers.
    The remarks were noticed in the Egyptian press.

2 Comments »

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  1. Skeptic, Why does Obama’s performance in front of the AIPAC conference surprise you? Isnt this consistent with the sudden hyper-support for Israel that he has displayed since becoming a national presedential candidate?

    Comment by Grandmasta — June 11, 2008 #

  2. Not really a surprise, alas, and given that Clinton, McCain, Rice, and Pelosi all showed up, Obama could hardly stay away. Palestinians apparently can’t afford the audacity of hope.

    What really got me was the line about Jerusalem, the “eternal, undivided” capital of Israel.

    Comment by The Skeptic — June 11, 2008 #

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