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Last update - 00:00 25/08/2008
What really scares us about Barack Obama
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Bradley Burston, Barack Obama 

Click here for more from Bradley Burston

NEW ORLEANS - Take a long walk in this land of dreams and all you'll see is Obama. Obama lawn signs, Obama bumper stickers, window placards, lapel buttons, anklets. In souvenir stores, Obama t-shirts compete successfully with longtime best-sellers touting Bourbon Street and carousing alligators.

The signs are everywhere. Taped to vintage windowpanes in antebellum mansions in the tony Garden District, to wrought-iron balconies in the French Quarter, to the ruins of housing projects in the still-Katrina-ravaged 9th Ward. The signs are everywhere, it seems, except in the polls.
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One August survey showed likely Louisiana voters favoring John McCain by a margin of 57 percent to 39 percent. The significance of the poll may go well beyond the fate of the Bayou State's nine electoral votes. Simply put, Louisiana has voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election for the past 36 years.

In the end, one suspects, John McCain may take this election in a quiet walk.

I was reminded of a conversation that took place during a prior visit to California, where this foreign visitor was born and raised. A woman who I believe supports Obama but who, as a member of the Jewish community, has been bombarded with e-mails distorting the Democratic candidate's positions on Israel, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Jews, terrorism, and taxes, asked me an honest question:

"Are Israelis frightened by Obama?"

At the risk of speaking for a people for whom consensus is a concept whose meaning is largely theoretical, my gut instinct still told me that the answer was a simple no. Frightened of many things they may be, but Obama is not one of them.

But in an America which now seems, to this foreign visitor, to be eroding under the pressure of its fears - serious concerns over credit meltdown, military impotence, health care, elderly care, spiraling educational costs, crumbling infrastructures, and an ever-expanding field of economic, environmental, energy and social landmines yet to be defused - now might be the time to ask the question: What is it that so frightens Americans about Barak Obama?

The easy assumption, of course, is racism. But research strongly suggests that race is not the answer.

The gut suggests the companion question, which may hold the answer. Why were Americans so plainly unafraid of George W. Bush that they not only elected, but re-elected him?

The gut suggests an answer that academics and, for that matter, foreign lovers of America, may find difficult to accept.

"Maybe," remarked a journalist in Israel this week, "what Americans really want, is a president that they can easily make fun of."

Someone like Bush.

Fox News Channel, as part of its continuing effort to marshal evidence that the media outlets are blasting away at McCain, while giving Obama a pass, recently cited a study showing that in the first seven months of the year, late-night talk show hosts told 549 jokes about John McCain versus only 382 about Obama. Only in passing did they mention that Hillary Clinton had been the subject of 562. They made no mention of the fact that George Bush headed the list at 605.

In the end, Bush's inexplicable air of harmlessness may be his real legacy. His genius was the glorification of ineffectuality. He played to perfection the part of the good ole boy who revels in the knowledge that things are not as bad as these insufferable, effete, under-manly liberals, intellectuals, elitists, eggheads, high talkers would have us believe. Here was the common man with the common man's truth - be happy with what you've got, and as for these nay-sayers, may they not bring all of us down with them.

And no one was as good as Bush at promulgating - perhaps, also, at himself believing - the big lie. Here, after all, was the man, the moneyed, Yale Skull and Bones legacy son of a moneyed president, grandson of a U.S. Senator trading on his identity as the caricature of the common man, this self-styled rancher, this apparent dirt farmer. A lie as big as the great Texas sky. And Americans lined up to buy it.

It was too scary not to.

What could be more scary, at this point, than Obama being right? The extent of the changes that need to be made are, in fact, frightening in dimension. There is, undeniably, something in human nature that suggests that if things are this bad, changing them could only be worse.

What frightens me, at this point, is the possibility that Americans have come to prize mediocrity over excellence, turning a blind eye to facing hard truths full on. Fox News, meanwhile, has gone back to trying to persuade America that global warming may be a fiction, after all. Who better than Fox to know a fiction when it reports one?

What may frighten some Americans about Barack Obama is his very excellence. His fiercest critics have so far had little else to go on.

But if he is truly that scary, why is it so necessary to lie about him?

If the real truth about him is so frightening, why is it so necessary for someone like Daniel Pipes to ingeniously resuscitate the lie that Obama is a Muslim?

If the actual facts are so damning, why was it so necessary for Fox and others to pump up the packet of hardbound fictions called Obama Nation, a miserable book whose manipulative distribution propelled it to a debut at the top of The New York Times best seller list?

There will be those for whom race is the deciding issue, but I believe their numbers are few. For many more, well-meaning and tolerant people, I believe the reason is fear. It is fear of the unknown, but not only fear of the unknown Obama.

I believe that the real fear is finding out what lies behind the big lies of George Bush, and, more ominously by far, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and a host of other neo-con-artist aides, many of whom have wisely jumped ship.

Perhaps it is only here, viewing the monstrously peculiar case of New Orleans, that one can begin to fathom the blind eye phenomenon of Bush's re-election.

At the weekend, The Associated Press released the results of an investigation into the federal government's efforts to safeguard the Crescent City from a catastrophe such as that which followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood."

Concluded flood protection official Tim Moody, "What we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."

Here is a place which has suffered as no other American city from what may be called the Reagan Effect - the urge to vote for the person who, in the face of crying problems, responds that this is the greatest country in the world, that things are not so bad after all, who counsels staying the course, rebuffing the pesky pinhead pencil-neck critic, letting the disaster-profiteer and the energy profiteer and the war-profiteer go about their business as good Americans.

Let us understand, therefore, that social ills are at root the fault of those who suffer from them, that lowering taxes is all that's really needed. Let us understand, therefore, that if part of the United States of America has become a part of the Third World, we should let it go, move on, get on with our own lives.

Thus far, Americans have shown themselves adept at bailing out financial institutions threatened by the credit crisis that the institutions themselves helped create and propagate.

At some point, this foreign visitor believes, America will also have to deal with its crisis of moral credit. Someone will have to pay for the catastrophes caused by the neo-cons, still curiously self-delighted after all these terrible years. Someone will have to deal with the world, and the New Poverty of America, that the Fox-blissed administration is about to leave behind.

Fox, meanwhile, continues to tell the people of New Orleans and California that the answer to the energy crisis and soaring gasoline costs and dependence on foreign oil is limited to drilling faster, deeper, stronger. Turn up the Fox Conditioning, lest you hear the whole enterprise creaking as it begins to collapse.

This foreign visitor doesn't believe that this election is about race. It is about the difficulty and the sacrifice involved in changing course, acknowledging error, actively working for a better common future.

It is a battle over the kind of complacency and fear of change that put into the Oval Office its most underqualified occupant in living memory. Perhaps that is how the joke statistics should be understood - and taken seriously.

After eight years of George Bush, the foreign visitor can say with assurance that Obama frightens him not at all. He is not even that frightened by the sincerely troubled person who watches Fox News hoping for an honest reason to vote for John McCain.

There are those who believe that what this voter, scared but not racist, may be saying is, "please, Fox News, give me a reason to vote against Obama that doesn't include the word black."

But what the foreign visitor finds the most frightening, the most dangerous, is the voter who, after eight years of abject catastrophe, continues to pray "Please, please, give me a reason to vote for the person who says that things are all right, after all."

Someone like Bush.


Previous blogs:

Ten Mideast traps for Barack Obama to avoid
The pleasure that Hezbollah takes in torture
Experiment: People's Peace Plan Number 1
Fear of calling a terrorist a terrorist
Palestinian terrorism as a natural act
How would Jesus vote on Mideast peace?
Perhaps we killed Christ after all
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Venezuela's Jews
Jewish community head: 'Chavez's government endorses anti-Semitism.'
Breakthrough start-up
WATCH: Israeli company invents radiation-free lung imaging system.
  1.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 11:35  |  indrajaya 26/08/08
  2.   POWELL FOR OBAMA 11:41  |  indrajaya 26/08/08
  3.   The Bill Maher effect 15:09  |  MichaelN 26/08/08
  4.   America is going down along with the rest of the world 16:37  |  lady from USA 26/08/08
  5.   Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville 23:20  |  jake 26/08/08
  6.   Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville 23:24  |  jake 26/08/08
  7.   Thanks for Promoting Fox News 10:57  |  Stewart G. 27/08/08
  8.   blue red 11:07  |  aryeh shore 27/08/08
  9.   The only thing scaring is the IQ of the American voter..... 12:34  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/08/08
  10.   What really frightening me about Obama is his failure to get... 12:42  |  Cat Constante 27/08/08
  11.   People stop believing politics changes anything. Want reassurance 12:46  |  Michael 27/08/08
  12.   I Q in AMERICA 12:57  |  Neutered Observer 27/08/08
  13.   For all people on this blog, for and against Obama: 13:03  |  S 27/08/08
  14.   #1 They just mean it`ll be harder for him 13:25  |  Devil 27/08/08
  15.   Burston is spot-on 13:39  |  Mike Friedman 27/08/08
  16.   #1 indrajaya - one out of two you say 13:40  |  * BEN JABO 27/08/08
  17.   Obama 13:40  |  Kacey Mathew 27/08/08
  18.   9: Yes, Dino, Switzerland`s isn`t scary 14:07  |  David Teich 27/08/08
  19.   Afraid? No. Just not stupid. 14:22  |  Jeff 27/08/08
  20.   9 - But are there now going to be minarets all over Switzerland? 14:28  |  redmike 27/08/08
  21.   Yes, I am scared 14:38  |  Mike 27/08/08
  22.   Burston is an idiot 14:39  |  Kerry 27/08/08
  23.   Sensationalist Pessimism 14:49  |  Aeli 27/08/08
  24.   Burston is spot-on 15:03  |  Mike Friedman 27/08/08
  25.   The American dream and the Fox syndrome. 15:13  |  Stephen 27/08/08
  26.   "Four more years of the last eight years" 15:24  |  Clickfool 27/08/08
  27.   MY US friend Jackie is right 15:30  |  Clickfool 27/08/08
  28.   Wrong again, Burston 15:30  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  29.   One more thing 15:34  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  30.   WHAT MCCAIN IS AFRAID ABOUT BARAK? HILLARY 15:38  |  indrajaya 27/08/08
  31.   Plato warned us! 15:41  |  utagawa 27/08/08
  32.   Block head Burston 15:47  |  joe Smith 27/08/08
  33.   My worry for Obama 15:48  |  Clickfool 27/08/08
  34.   Obama vs McCain on Israel: A no-brainer 15:49  |  A Hillary Democrat 27/08/08
  35.   Intelligence, race, Moslem? 15:50  |  howiej 27/08/08
  36.   #9 15:53  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  37.   #23 Clickfool - American want change 15:54  |  * BEN JABO 27/08/08
  38.   More BS Analysis from Burston 15:54  |  The Historian 27/08/08
  39.   Watching Hillary today at the Democratic Convention 15:59  |  Clickfool 27/08/08
  40.   INDY....I learned something about the "first black man" 16:05  |  Lynn 27/08/08
  41.   Are Americans in denial? 16:11  |  sc 27/08/08
  42.   #33 Clicky .....will the same Middle America 16:13  |  Lynn 27/08/08
  43.   # 16, BEN JABO 16:20  |  indrajaya 27/08/08
  44.   Dinkins - the first black mayor of New York City 16:20  |  Boris 27/08/08
  45.   Obam will be elected and things will worsen for Blacks and poor. 16:21  |  The Equalizer 27/08/08
  46.   #31 utagawa....Yes, we do have problems 16:22  |  Lynn 27/08/08
  47.   Afraid? No, but maybe just a bit jealous. 16:22  |  Tzfonit 27/08/08
  48.   # 40, LYNN 16:24  |  indrajaya 27/08/08
  49.   The real question that nobody wants to ask 16:26  |  Boris 27/08/08
  50.   I`m afraid of him ,if he`s elected I would pay global poverty tax 16:27  |  maria 27/08/08
  51.   ENDGAME - ALEX JONES - BLUEPRINT for GLOBAL ENSLAVEMENT 16:28  |  Linda Rivera 27/08/08
  52.   # 39 Clicky.....I wholeheartedly agree but 16:32  |  Lynn 27/08/08
  53.   #30 - Indrajaya 16:37  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  54.   # 18 David Teich shows that he has no clue...... 16:40  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/08/08
  55.   3 types of people in this world... 16:44  |  Ben 27/08/08
  56.   39. Clickfool. On Hillary 16:46  |  Stephen 27/08/08
  57.   # 20 redmike, nothing easier than that..... 16:49  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/08/08
  58.   Sorry to say, but after reading The Economist article - 16:51  |  S 27/08/08
  59.   # 36 Deborah, I`m afraid you are suffering from..... 17:03  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/08/08
  60.   # 53, DEBORAH 17:04  |  indrajaya 27/08/08
  61.   Real problem was not electing Hilary 17:13  |  mark 27/08/08
  62.   McCain, Obama and Israel 17:22  |  Ron G 27/08/08
  63.   # 61, MARK 17:24  |  indrajaya 27/08/08
  64.   # 56 Stephen and Clickfool blinded by Hillarys "beauty"...??? 17:36  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/08/08
  65.   To all you dumb americans.... 17:45  |  Ofer Maimon 27/08/08
  66.   `Legacy of harmlessness` is an insult to victims of Iraq and Kat 17:46  |  nathan 27/08/08
  67.   #35 Equalizer 17:47  |  ballistic 27/08/08
  68.   #37 Well, if it isn`t BJ spreading his usual 17:54  |  ballistic 27/08/08
  69.   The Fallback to Freedom... 17:56  |  Pastor Joseph 27/08/08
  70.   What really scares ME 17:57  |  Nick Andrelli 27/08/08
  71.   #57 - Einstein was born at Ulm, Germany 17:58  |  redmike 27/08/08
  72.   For Lynn # 42 17:59  |  Clickfool 27/08/08
  73.   #57 Swiss Dino you will have to accept a draw. 18:01  |  Labhras 27/08/08
  74.   Bradley Burston on Obama and Bush 18:16  |  Ron Mepwith 27/08/08
  75.   scare 18:22  |  Shmuelshachor 27/08/08
  76.   scare 18:22  |  Shmuelshachor 27/08/08
  77.   why everyone should be concerned about Obama .. 18:25  |  redmike 27/08/08
  78.   America moving left while the major parties meld 18:26  |  Pssd Off American 27/08/08
  79.   Scary code words 18:45  |  allang 27/08/08
  80.   #60 Indrajaya 18:45  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  81.   Fear of Barack Obama 18:56  |  Barry Cooperstein 27/08/08
  82.   Swiss (Dino) About IQ 18:59  |  david Israel 27/08/08
  83.   jjake, maybe the US has changed 18:59  |  Zev Davis 27/08/08
  84.   MichaelN - I second that! 19:01  |  Dismayed American 27/08/08
  85.   #59 19:02  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  86.   great actors scare me 19:06  |  Samhael L 27/08/08
  87.   maria- Republicans raise taxes too 19:07  |  American Voter 27/08/08
  88.   #59 continued 19:07  |  Deborah 27/08/08
  89.   Obama 19:13  |  Yariv 27/08/08
  90.   H.L Mencken was right 19:21  |  Janice 27/08/08
  91.   You define Obama as not being Bush.. 19:22  |  dyinglikeflies 27/08/08
  92.   Kacey 19:28  |  Connie 27/08/08
  93.   Your opinion is not based on reality 19:49  |  Michael 27/08/08
  94.   Funny but true 20:19  |  RW 27/08/08
  95.   Problem with reporters: 20:28  |  Czarkazem13 27/08/08
  96.   What Really Scary about Barack Obama 20:32  |  Gil 27/08/08
  97.   Scary code words 20:57  |  allang 27/08/08
  98.   answer to #7:the problem? Look in the mirror. 20:58  |  Bronxite10 27/08/08
  99.   Swiss (dino) again about IQ 21:02  |  David Israel 27/08/08
  100.   Obama 21:21  |  zvi 27/08/08
  101.   Swiss (Dino) 21:29  |  Oleg 27/08/08
  102.   Obama...to be or not to be? 21:35  |  Nemesis 27/08/08
  103.   Obama is wrong on the issues and/or has no experience 21:35  |  JM 27/08/08
  104.   Let us sit back and think 21:54  |  Grigore Unsu 27/08/08
  105.   Obama 21:57  |  David Levine 27/08/08
  106.   Mr. Bradley Burston, Stay Out Of American Politics 22:03  |  Jeff Northridge 27/08/08
  107.   IQ, Fear and Change 22:04  |  Zlato 27/08/08
  108.   To Lynn & Clickfool re Hillary 22:10  |  Persian Kitty 27/08/08
  109.   #57 - Einstein was born at Ulm, Germany 22:14  |  redmike 27/08/08
  110.   What Americans Want 22:19  |  Mark Lincoln 27/08/08
  111.   wrong. we just want someone with more experience... 22:20  |  Jewish State 27/08/08
  112.   David Levine 22:30  |  Mike Friedman 27/08/08
  113.   voting for McCain 22:45  |  Eugene 27/08/08
  114.   "his very excellence" 1 22:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 27/08/08
  115.   "his very excellence" 2 22:57  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 27/08/08
  116.   #65 Gee Nemesis I can`t help,but Agree with you. 23:01  |  KATHY 27/08/08
  117.   Obama/Livni 23:05  |  Malone 27/08/08
  118.   #53 Ben 23:07  |  Janice 27/08/08
  119.   #50 23:18  |  MiddleAmerica 27/08/08
  120.   #65, Nemesis 23:18  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 27/08/08
  121.   Eugene..... 23:32  |  Hopeful 27/08/08
  122.   CJK "his very excellence` 1 and 2 23:39  |  David Israel 27/08/08
  123.   Brilliant Bradley blog! 23:39  |  Ivar 27/08/08
  124.   #79...Kathy 23:44  |  Nemesis 27/08/08
  125.   Forced into crime by government 23:47  |  Zvi G 27/08/08
  126.   #76 Eugene 23:52  |  mike 27/08/08
  127.   Eugene - wake up! 00:16  |  Mike Friedman 28/08/08
  128.   #80 Hopeful....hopeless is more like it 00:17  |  Lynn 28/08/08
  129.   #69 Hey Jeff,that`s telling Mr.Bradley eh? 00:17  |  KATHY 28/08/08
  130.   Obama and Bush 00:19  |  Betti Miner 28/08/08
  131.   #73 Mark Lincoln et al who choose to speak 00:23  |  Lynn 28/08/08
  132.   In all fairness... 00:33  |  Avi Yerushalmi 28/08/08
  133.   Obama is an Islamic Rev Jeremiah. 00:40  |  Akram Zekaria 28/08/08
  134.   KATHY 00:50  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 28/08/08
  135.   Good point 00:52  |  Democrat 28/08/08
  136.   Shh! You are allowed to discuss American politics... 00:53  |  Maureen Ann 28/08/08
  137.   McCain has more experience and more intelligent. 00:58  |  Vote for McCain 28/08/08
  138.   # 64 David Israel, another victim of the Talkback-disease...... 01:07  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  139.   # 72 redmike, Albert Einstein may have been born in Germany.... 01:12  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  140.   Presidential search 01:14  |  MR 28/08/08
  141.   I can give you more than one reason 01:21  |  Salty 28/08/08
  142.   to mike friedman on #75 01:22  |  Shmuelshachor 28/08/08
  143.   I`ll vote for Obama 01:27  |  Jerrold Cohen 28/08/08
  144.   Obama 01:28  |  Thundercloud65 28/08/08
  145.   # 65, NEMESIS 02:03  |  indrajaya 28/08/08
  146.   Obama`s excellence? What the devil has he ever done? 02:04  |  Claudia 28/08/08
  147.   He can read........ 02:21  |  William 28/08/08
  148.   Tell It Like It is! 03:12  |  Karen McBride 28/08/08
  149.   Obama 03:15  |  Philip v Papadopulos 28/08/08
  150.   Jeff Proves Burston`s Poing 03:32  |  Annnie 28/08/08
  151.   #`s 77 & 78 03:41  |  Deborah 28/08/08
  152.   #44-Boris-Yes Dinkins messed up NYC. Is USA ready to be.. 03:42  |  PK 28/08/08
  153.   On the bus to Pennsylvania today many against BO 03:52  |  PK 28/08/08
  154.   #39-Clickfool for once you`re right. USA not as afraid of.. 04:02  |  PK 28/08/08
  155.   Persian Kitty says 1.6M iranian-americans Obama, that`s scary!!! 04:04  |  Voice of Reason 28/08/08
  156.   # 78 What really scares Cipora and other Jews about Obama 04:07  |  American in NY 28/08/08
  157.   REMEMBER ENGLAND`S PM BENJAMIN DISRAELI ? 04:20  |  Smadar 28/08/08
  158.   Israel, when the chips are down USA will desert you..like Georgia 04:56  |  Toronto`s Finest 28/08/08
  159.   Swiss Genius 05:29  |  Jasper 28/08/08
  160.   I Am Formally Announcing My Candidacy... 06:31  |  Yosemite 28/08/08
  161.   The truth is far less complicated 06:31  |  Simah 28/08/08
  162.   On excellence (To CJK) 06:41  |  Morris Valentine 28/08/08
  163.   re 4 yadda yadda yadda yadda 06:46  |  alan the real one 28/08/08
  164.   Amazing article 06:47  |  Diane 28/08/08
  165.   re 26 good for thr goose a click 06:50  |  alan the real one 28/08/08
  166.   Obama and Israel 06:54  |  Diane 28/08/08
  167.   re 33 why is clicky always right? 07:04  |  alan the real one 28/08/08
  168.   re 39 I need to adjust the color on my computer. 07:07  |  alan the real one 28/08/08
  169.   re 37 the old sliht of hand 07:12  |  alan the real one 28/08/08
  170.   Our elections scare you.. 07:34  |  Edithann, USA 28/08/08
  171.   Response to #76 07:35  |  Diane 28/08/08
  172.   THIS ATTACK ON EXPERIENCE WILL BACKFIRE 07:36  |  indrajaya 28/08/08
  173.   # 78 cipora, i DO believe... 07:37  |  eric 28/08/08
  174.   The author is right 07:55  |  KM 28/08/08
  175.   #90, Morris Valentine 08:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  176.   is it loose change or small change or even all change 08:26  |  vhardman 28/08/08
  177.   #90, Morris Valentine, post script 08:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  178.   #39, clickfool 09:00  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  179.   obama would be good 09:21  |  ali 28/08/08
  180.   #113, eric 09:29  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  181.   For Smadar #108 09:49  |  Clickfool 28/08/08
  182.   129 - why do you think he would be good? 09:52  |  redmike 28/08/08
  183.   Clickfool and "atavistic prejudices" 10:00  |  utagawa 28/08/08
  184.   # 110 Jasper, little difference, I`m afraid..... 10:29  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  185.   KM 10:49  |  THETEACHER/INSTRUCT 28/08/08
  186.   Inrajaya 96 Unwarrented assumption re Nemisis 11:06  |  Stephen in New York 28/08/08
  187.   54: Dino, always good for a laugh 11:06  |  David Teich 28/08/08
  188.   indraya and the morbid interest in democratic process? 11:22  |  vhardman 28/08/08
  189.   Obama`s Legislative Record 11:51  |  Miriam Klepper 28/08/08
  190.   CLAUDIA 12:08  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 28/08/08
  191.   Everyone waits til Nov and AMERICANS will let you know. 12:14  |  Petra 28/08/08
  192.   Biden 12:18  |  aya 28/08/08
  193.   # 140 but cipora... 13:47  |  eric 28/08/08
  194.   MOST AMERICAN JEWS SUPPORT HIM! 14:08  |  Cute Jewish Jewel 28/08/08
  195.   #143 utagawa...I fear you are both wrong 14:13  |  Lynn 28/08/08
  196.   #96 Maureen Ann - Don`t forget to discuss 14:39  |  * BEN JABO 28/08/08
  197.   #145 THE TEACHER:Here?s a thing I have been mulling about last 15:23  |  KATHY 28/08/08
  198.   # 147 David, the Israeli, wants to teach me Swiss politics (LOL) 16:01  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  199.   #148 vhardman..Has anyone concidered How the FloridiansWill react 16:37  |  KATHY 28/08/08
  200.   To Voice of Reason 17:00  |  Persian Kitty 28/08/08
  201.   #157 A Bit More for you folks. 17:04  |  KATHY 28/08/08
  202.   To Stephen in NY re: cats & dogs 17:16  |  Persian Kitty 28/08/08
  203.   #173 Anyone Interested Should read Michelle Malkin and .. 19:47  |  KATHY 28/08/08
  204.   #117...Indrajaha.....huh? 20:06  |  Nemesis 28/08/08
  205.   Swiss (Dino) #170 20:10  |  David Israel 28/08/08
  206.   #165, eric 20:25  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  207.   Persian Kitty- Treacherous Triangle 21:25  |  Stephen in New York 28/08/08
  208.   #171 - Cute JJ 21:38  |  Deborah 28/08/08
  209.   To Voice of Reason - Part I 21:46  |  Persian Kitty 28/08/08
  210.   To Voice of Reason - Part II 21:58  |  Persian Kitty 28/08/08
  211.   To CJK 22:30  |  Morris Valentine 28/08/08
  212.   180 Oh Kath, stop handwringing 23:09  |  ballistic 28/08/08
  213.   #178 Say Kath re Rev Wright 23:16  |  ballistic 28/08/08
  214.   Experience alone is a poor predictor 00:45  |  Bronxite10 29/08/08
  215.   # 182 David Israel 01:13  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/08/08
  216.   #186 &187 ballistic..I don`t Usually Write to You.This time I am. 02:02  |  KATHY 29/08/08
  217.   The New World Landscape. 02:27  |  Akram Zekaria 29/08/08
  218.   #183 Cipora..One thing I find during the American electioneering 03:31  |  anonymous 29/08/08
  219.   ` Time for Change` is ` Back to the old Drawing Board ` 03:33  |  Akram Zekaria 29/08/08
  220.   184# Persian Kitty. You for get the real truth.. 04:20  |  Akram Zekaria 29/08/08
  221.   To my friends Cipora, Morris and eric. 10:18  |  S 29/08/08
  222.   # 183 the point i`m trying to make, cipora... 11:07  |  eric 29/08/08
  223.   # 195 to my friend "S" re: 2-1 11:42  |  eric 29/08/08
  224.   Swiss (Dino) full of yourself 15:22  |  David Israel 29/08/08
  225.   To S and eric: it may be 2 to 0 18:57  |  Morris Valentine 29/08/08
  226.   To Morris and eric - who both made my day. 21:21  |  S 29/08/08
  227.   American Truth 21:37  |  Lynn Nicholson 29/08/08
  228.   Very nice David Israel #224 from NY (where else!) 21:40  |  S 29/08/08
  229.   Should minority represent majority? 00:57  |  Joseph 30/08/08
  230.   personal excellence can`t overcome the flaws of socialism 05:30  |  William 30/08/08
  231.   A good understanding of the issues 09:01  |  Rick Goodner 30/08/08
  232.   don`t throw stones if you live in a glass house 10:39  |  mike 30/08/08
  233.   198: Dino, another word to study -- hypocrisy 11:13  |  David Teich 30/08/08
  234.   America is afraid of any term containing 11:46  |  Hagai 30/08/08
  235.   Great article! 15:14  |  W 30/08/08
  236.   The real reason(s) 16:27  |  Deborah 30/08/08
  237.   Obama 19:19  |  Selig Freedman 30/08/08
  238.   234: Hagai, so much wrong in such a short post 13:43  |  David Teich 31/08/08
  239.   Following my #221 to CJK,M,and e, a little bit about Truman 18:00  |  S 31/08/08
  240.   Addendum to Truman 19:17  |  S 31/08/08
  241.   To S (#239, 240) 21:38  |  Morris Valentine 31/08/08
  242.   USA ELECTIONS 16:55  |  VELIKA SOKUROVA 01/09/08
  243.   Loving nonentities 18:02  |  Rick 01/09/08
  244.   Reply to 242 18:10  |  Rick 01/09/08
  245.   to smadar on #157 01:22  |  Shmuelshachor 02/09/08
  246.   Yes We Can, No We Can`t 09:27  |  Pamela 02/09/08
  247.   Massive deaths 11:15  |  SlabTzu 02/09/08
  248.   #221, S, yes think of Truman 11:16  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 02/09/08
  249.   If you are right do not be scared 13:52  |  M.Patel 02/09/08
  250.   Fox Biased - they`re not the only ones! 06:29  |  Rachael 03/09/08
  251.   Obama as Muslim 08:27  |  Pesach 03/09/08
  252.   Obama 18:01  |  Mitchell Black 03/09/08
  253.   Don`t Underestimate the Power of Racism 18:34  |  Lisa in Chicago 03/09/08
  254.   truth 23:43  |  Liliana 06/09/08
  255.   daniel pipes/obama muslim 22:43  |  azriel 09/09/08
  256.   Being afraid of Obama 08:09  |  David Sternlight 10/09/08
  257.   PLEASE STATE THE FACTS 03:33  |  ANDRE 13/09/08
  258.   Barack 11:15  |  Shirley 16/09/08
  259.   Clickfool 23:54  |  James 16/09/08
  260.   #65 Ofer Maimon 00:04  |  Joey 17/09/08
  261.   Bush and the "Big Lie" 21:56  |  Don 22/09/08
  262.   What scares us about Obama 17:48  |  Molly A 23/09/08
  263.   What really scares us about Barack Obama 20:32  |  George L. Getz 23/09/08
  264.   Obama and the Media... 20:10  |  Dan 29/10/08
  265.   WHAT REALLY SCARES US ABOUT BARACK OBAMA 02:47  |  FAYE WEHNER 31/10/08
  266.   what scares about Obama 05:12  |  gene bocknek 31/10/08
 Read & React
Obama: Time for Palestinians, Israel to resume peace talks
Responses: 51
Miri Eisin: Is only the Israeli narrative 'the truth' and all the others wrong?
Responses: 28
Bradley Burston: The Gaza War as reality television
Responses: 17
EU aid chief: Hamas 'enormously responsible' for Gaza war
Responses: 59
Summit on Holocaust: Gaza war legitimized equating Jews with Nazis
Responses: 48


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