A letter from Senator Obama to the US ambassador to the UN:
Dear Ambassador Khalilzad,"Ensure that it does not speak" -- that really ought to be the motto on the Israel lobby's coat of arms. The Latin would be nice and compact -- "Ne loquatur", if memory serves.I understand that today the UN Security Council met regarding the situation in Gaza...
I urge you to ensure that the Security Council issue no statement and pass no resolution on this matter that does not fully condemn the rocket assault Hamas has been conducting on civilians in southern Israel... All of us are concerned about the impact of closed border crossings on Palestinian families. However, we have to understand why Israel is forced to do this...
The Security Council should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks, and should make clear that Israel has the right to defend itself.... If it cannot bring itself to make these common sense points, I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
United States Senator
The correct point of reference for Obama may not be Jack Kennedy, or even Al Smith as Owen suggested earlier today. I'm starting to think it's Sammy Davis Jr.
Khalilzad himself is a bit of a house nigger, if I may be forgiven the phrase, so he and Barack probably understand each other very well. Here's Wikipedia:
Khalilzad received his PhD at the University of Chicago, where he studied closely with strategic thinker Albert Wohlstetter, a prominent nuclear deterrence thinker and an opponent to the disarmament treaties....From 1979 to 1989.... Khalilzad was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. During that time he worked closely with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Carter Administration's architect of the policy supporting the Afghan Mujahadeen resistance to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan....
In 1984 Khalilzad accepted a one-year Council on Foreign Relations fellowship to join the State Department, where he worked for Paul Wolfowitz...
From 1985 to 1989, Khalilzad served in President Ronald Reagan's Administration as a senior State Department official advising on the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq war.... and guided the international program to promote the merits of a Mujahideen-led Afghanistan to oust the Soviet occupation....
He is one of the original members of Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was a signatory of the letter to President Bill Clinton sent on January 26, 1998, which called for him to accept the aim of "removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power" ....
Comments (5)
Yeah I saw this on Finkelstein's site the other day. Pretty telling. And this from a guy who once had dinner with edward said.
in other news, nader seems to have gotten a bit more radical in regard to his attitude to the israel-palestine conflict. At the recent green party pres candidate forum he was talking about military spending increasing along with foreign policy problems and said, "it's worse today...the palestinians weren't being barricaded, drained of water, colonized and otherwise overwhelmed as they are today. By the way, those land owners on the Mexican border, who are really objecting because there's a big 9 billion dollar boeing-built wall underway and there lands are being split and they can't control their own lands, they oughta have a rally and hold up a banner entitled: "we're now all palestinians". That oughta get some attention...
Posted by Tim D | January 26, 2008 5:07 PM
Posted on January 26, 2008 17:07
Ahhhh...I really do respect you all...and I'm not a supporter of Obama myself for all the reasons you say.
But, do we have to go to the "blackface" card here??? Whatever weaknesses Obama may have, even he's not deserving of this.
Just saying, y'all.
Anthony
Posted by Anthony Kennerson | January 27, 2008 12:11 PM
Posted on January 27, 2008 12:11
AK -- Yeah, it made me cringe too, even when I posted it. I have an old white leftie Southerner's scruples about this stuff. Decided to go ahead, for a complicated mix of reasons.
1) I've really come to hate pussyfooting and sensitivity. The hell with people's feelings. Tell the truth, as bluntly and disagreeably as you can, the meaner the better. It's the only way to strike through the pasteboard mask.
2) There's something wonderfully contradictory about Barack's success -- it simultaneously shows how much things have changed, and how little things have changed. Back when I was a lad, it would have been inconceivable for a guy with Barack's skin color to be where he is. So that's quite a wonderful change. But on the other hand, if he has to kiss AIPAC ass to get there -- what's the point of the change? What does it amount to? Doesn't it show that Massa is still Massa, even if many of the field hands have made it into the house?
Posted by MJS | January 27, 2008 2:57 PM
Posted on January 27, 2008 14:57
At ATR recently Jon put up some interesting background on Khalilzad.
My two cents on the blackface/"house nigger" talk is that you're going to wind up offending the wrong people. Blackface is a dangerous weapon that is almost impossible to control.
Posted by StO | January 27, 2008 3:55 PM
Posted on January 27, 2008 15:55
What's all the hassle over the Jolson image? C'mon, that's part of what Obombirana is -- the court minstrel for the corporate state. You want "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny"? He'll croon it for you. You want "Oh, Susanna"? He'll belt it out for you? Want to see some fancy hoofin'? He'll shuffle for you 'til the allegorical cows come home. Hell, that '04 DP Convention speech -- basically, his announcement for '08 -- was some of the most awesome singin'n'shufflin' ever done...up to and including his gushy reply to Toni "Beloved" Morrison's wretchedly-cloying letter to Sen. House Negro expressing her "official" endorsement to become the second Black President™.
As far as the "house negro" concept -- you can't rag on anyone for drawing that parallel, because we all learned it from Malcolm X. 'Nuff said? You can take that entire letter of his to the UN Ambassador and crush it down to three words: Save Massuh's House!
Toni Morrison endorses Barack Obombirana:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080128/D8UEUDQ80.html
Posted by Mike Flugennock | January 28, 2008 10:44 AM
Posted on January 28, 2008 10:44