John McCain: U.S. committed to preventing a second Holocaust

Here is an interesting question for the Jewish American voter: Would you prefer a candidate that said Jewish author Philip Roth "affected the formation of my sensibility" or the candidate that is "not a big fan" of Roth, and prefers other Jewish writers, such as Victor Frankl, whose book "Man's Search for Meaning" is "one of the most substantial things I've read in my life."

Barack Obama, the democratic candidate, is a fan of Roth. John McCain, the Republican candidate, doesn't like Roth very much. Their answers can be written off as automatic interview responses, but they can also be looked at more in depth. The mention of Roth, whose relations with Judaism and the American Jewish community are strained, could be viewed as brilliant, or alternately as a rookie's mistake. McCain's choices ? Elie Wiesel, Herman Wouk, Leon Uris - might be seen as disclosing his old age.

The two candidates were interviewed by Jeffery Goldberg from "The Atlantic" magazine on topics relating to Israel. Obama was interviewed some two weeks ago, and McCain last week. McCain was asked whether the U.S. was confusing its own interests with Israel's in its efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The candidate's answer, which could be viewed as extremely jarring, was "the United States of America is committed to preventing a second Holocaust."

Here, a clear line can be drawn between McCain's answer and Roth's successful novel "The Plot Against America" in which the fictional U.S. president strikes an alliance with Adolf Hitler and blames the Jews for pushing the U.S. into an unnecessary war against Germany.

McCain, Obama to address AIPAC
McCain will address the opening Monday of the American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC) pro-Israel lobbying organization in Washington.

Democratic hopeful Barack Obama is far from giving up on this community of voters - he will speak to the convention on Tuesday.

AIPAC members will be asked to display restraint during the candidates' appearances, refraining from the booing that marred the appearance last year of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

McCain has been hammering at Obama over his willingness to meet with the leader of Iran. Obama's updated version is that he was not speaking of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rather "a leader," perhaps the next president, perhaps the spiritual leader. Either way, McCain is convinced that this is a blatant error.

He finds lower-level meetings acceptable, but believes that the president of the United States should not engage in the talks unless there is a high probability of yielding benefit. This is the strance McCain will take to Florida when he to persuade Jewish voters to cast their ballots for a party they do not generally support.

Obama clears hurdle
The internal battle in the Democratic Party has yet to run its course, but this week candidate Obama made it over another hurdle. Senior Democratic figures decided to settle the dispute over seating delegates from Florida and Michigan - the two states punished for having moved up their primaries - in an affair reminiscent of the once-dominant Israeli Mapai party's backroom politics: half of the delegates will be allowed to vote.

After months of wrangling in which Clinton served as attorney representing the lost votes, she also watched as the card fell from her grasp. Watched, and was not pleased by the result.

Delegates are to be distributed according to voting percentages. In Florida, that's simple. It's clear who voted for whom. In Michigan, it's more complicated, because Obama's name did not appear on the ballot. He will receive Michigan delegates according to the percentage of voters [40%] who said they were uncommitted.

The Clinton campaign, which as a result of the decision gained a number of delegates, but far fewer than the candidate had hoped, reacted with great anger. Pro-Clinton demonstrators, watching helplessly as the nomination receded further and further from Clinton, warned that they would not vote for Obama. Their red faces were proof that the Democratic Party has yet to neutralize the threat of a very hot summer of party infighting.

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