The President-Elect,Editorial Board

While it's still early - the new president won't take office until January 20 - it appears that many of the concerns voiced on this page and in our community about an Obama administration may have been ill founded.

The appointment of Congressman Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff and the expected choice of Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state should put to rest fears that Mr. Obama harbors any deep-seated animosity toward the Jewish state.

As has been widely reported, Mr. Emanuel was an IDF civilian volunteer during the first Gulf War, has been an unabashed supporter of Israel while in Congress, and his father fought in the Irgun. The fact that the president-elect chose someone with Mr. Emanuel's background to oversee his White House speaks volumes.

As for Sen. Clinton, she has long erased any reasonable doubt as to where her sympathies are regarding the Middle East. Indeed, she has emerged as one of Israel's strongest Senate supporters of the Jewish state. While we have no doubt that Mr. Obama's apparent selection of Sen. Clinton had a lot to do with domestic politics, it still is instructive that he chose as secretary of state someone with such a strong record on Israel.

Of course, it is Mr. Obama who ultimately will set the course of his administration's foreign policy, and whether or not he will press for American "evenhandedness" or a role as "an honest broker" remains to be seen. But the two choices are encouraging.

In the area of foreign policy generally, candidate Obama seemed to credit the complaints of such rogue states as Iran that the U.S. was the reason for much of the turmoil roiling the international arena. His reference to President Bush as practicing "cowboy diplomacy" seemed to us to undermine any notion of American exceptionalism in the world arena. A secretary of state named Hillary Clinton will assuage many of our doubts. It is also reassuring to hear that Mr. Obama is seriously considering retaining Robert Gates as secretary of defense.

Also during the campaign, we had grave concerns about Mr. Obama's economic philosophy. He talked about spreading the wealth and taxing the rich, and it appeared to many that he was signaling a move toward some form of socialism. And yet his just-announced economic team headed by Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers signals that Mr. Obama is intent on seriously dealing with the rapidly deteriorating economic crisis rather than engaging in some frolic in economic experimentation.

A New York Times analysis piece last Saturday captured the thought:

President-elect Obama won the Democratic nomination with the enthusiastic support of the left wing of his party, fueled by his vehement opposition to the decision to invade Iraq and by one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate.

Now, his reported selections for two major positions in his cabinet - Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Timothy F. Geithner as secretary of the Treasury - suggest that Mr. Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party, surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues.

As we said, it's very early. But for now, at least, there is much reason for encouragement.

Read Comments (3)

VAT ME VORRY?
Date 02:11, 11-26, 08

Your original editorial was appropriate--a refreshing exception to the litany of liberal, left-wing bias which characterizes much of the media.

Specifically, your concerns about Obama's socialist pronouncements to redistribute the wealth--in particular his aim to tax business were justified. An attempt to revive
FDR's New Deal or LBJ's "Great Society" policies would be ill-considered.

It is also important to emphasize that leading Democrats are responsible for the foreclosure epidemic as
it was their goal to provide every American with a house
notwithstanding the possibility that the borrower had no chance of repaying his debt. (Barney Frank, for example, thought that Fannie Mae was in great shape and he along with his other liberal confederates encouraged irresponsible lending by banks to fit their socialist agenda.)

Aside from economics, we really should be concerned about OB's views on the Constitution. OB stated that he would like to establish a civilian "force" that would be--to paraphrase--greater and more powerful than the US army. What's that all about? (Last I looked, the President is indeed the Commander-In-Chief; however, that does not give the President the authority to establish a rival military entity to compete with our armed forces. In fact, such a measure would be unconstitutional.)

In order for this republic to survive, its citizens must be vigilant to preserve our liberty. Constructive criticism is necessary to make sure that Obama does not usurp power that is not warranted by our Constitution. Yochanan Shapiro

Who is Running the Jewish Press These Days?
Date 11:11, 11-28, 08

Friends of Jim Baker or Jimmy Carter?

I am definitely NOT reassured, at least not yet. Rahm Emanuel is not King David, in fact if anything he's a twerp with a foul mouth and disposition who is eager to please and be the Court Jew, even if it is at the expense of Israel. For example, where was little Rahm when Arafat walked away from the Barak talks and began murdering women and children in Israel, or better yet, where was he when those first bus bombings took place even well before then???

Oh, busy undermining Netanyahu along with Dennis Ross, Kurtzer, Miller and the rest of the Baker-NotSoBright boys.

And now on the heels of the return of Miguel D'Escoto, one of the architects of the massacre of the Miskito Indians in Nicaragua and his calls for a boycott against Israel, and the murder of the Chabad Rabbi and his wife is the return of Samantha "I Want the U.S. Marine Corps to invade Israel" Power. Mr. Obama promised to get rid of the anti-Semites, well, he did just as long as 77-78 percent of stupid American Jews voted for him. Now Power is back, and looking possibly at a key State Department post under Hillary Clinton. As is Rob Malley.

What next? Brezinzski as special envoy to Israel? Or unless General James Jones turns out surprisingly like Al Haig did as a real friend and not an adversary, we will have another National Security Adviser not favorably disposed to Israel at all.

If anything, the verdict on whether or not Mr. Obama is a friend is still out; at worse is the possibility that we who opposed him due to his friendship and ties to anti-Semites were right from the start.

Alan Rockman

To think that even frum Yidden could support Obama
Date 06:12, 12-1, 08

This is more of a shanda fur di goyim than the expected self-hating liberal Jews who supported him.

Rabbi Meir Kahane (HY"D) once said our people are in desperate need of a national psychiatric couch. Truer words were never said.

And to think he once wrote for this paper!

Hopefully by the time you read this, the Supreme Court will have disqualified Obama, since chances are very good that he is not a native-born American as is required by the US Constitution (for more info see www dot americamustknow dot com )

Chana