Rabbi Shmuley: Israel as Obama's "Obsession"

Over at the Huffington Post, the "Rabbi to the Stars", Shmuley Boteach, reports from AIPAC on Obama's speech to the influential Jewish group:

President Obama's speech at AIPAC straddled the line of Jackie Mason standup. It turns out that when the president said last Thursday that Israel should return to its '67 borders, it wasn't exactly what he meant. Who said I was referring to 1967. I meant 1867. And even 1867, I didn't mean CE, I meant BCE. And why did you assume I was talking about Israel's border. I was talking about French Guyana's borders.

This was the first time in my life that I ever felt sorry for Barack Obama, an incongruous sentiment for a man so talented and who also just happens to be the most powerful man in the world. Why did he elicit my sympathy? Because you could see in both his body language and utter absence of passion that he had been defeated. The president dithered, bobbed and weaved. He came into a room filled with 10,000 pro-Israel activists knowing that he blew it, not just with the American Jewish community but with history as well.

For months Arab democracy has been breaking out all over the world. President Obama had yet to give one major policy speech on this unprecedented uprising. Yet, when he finally chose to do so and thus recapture the traditional American president's epitaph as 'Leader of the Free World,' he could not help but insert a highly inflammatory line about Israel that was immediately seized upon by the world's media, thereby extinguishing the speech's other content. And even on the Israel front he was forced to so dilute the '67 border statement that it became utterly meaningless.

The president's explanation at AIPAC was that he had no idea that the '67 borders line was going to be so inflammatory.

"My position has been misrepresented... If there is a controversy, then, it's not based in substance.... What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately."

But the president's claims to naiveté are ridiculous. To his detractors, the president is many things. But he is no fool. He knew full well that being the first American president to publicly call for a return to the '67 lines was a bomb waiting to detonate.

So why did Obama say it? Why did he personally insist on including it?

I believe the answer to this question speaks directly to the growing mistrust that American Jewry, who gave the president 78% of its vote in 2008, has for Obama and why Democratic Jewish donor purses are closing.

Stated simply, this president has a strange obsession with Israel....

So the influential Shmuley seems to believe that Obama is a liar and a fool, with a strange (perhaps dangerous?) obsession with Israel. Harsh. Although if Shmuley read this blog, he would know that Obama's view towards the Middle East is a toxic brew of anti-semitism and a growing hatred of Benjamin Netanyahu.

American Jews are in a pickle. If they close their pocketbooks, as Shmuley intimates may be the case, then they have no protection at all against the wrath of Barack Hussein Obama. The anti-Semitic instinct can run wild, and with Samantha Power whispering in his ear and Hillary Clinton willing to sell out any and all for five more minutes of access to power, Israel (and American Jews) can find themselves in a dangerous place.

And what if the Jews fall for Obama's clumsy love sonnets, like the one Shmuley saw through at AIPAC? (like many an Arab, Obama speaks out of both sides of his mouth - offering reassurances to Israel, while plotting her destruction with Hamas). Jen Rubin offers a stark warning:

But there is a reality that can’t be avoided. This president once again has proved an apt negotiator on behalf of the Palestinians and a thorn in Israel’s side. Now is a time of choosing for the American Jewish community, for Israel and for Congress. And if Obama should be reelected in 2012 one can only imagine how hostile he will become toward the Jewish state.

Will American Jews sacrifice their homeland in order to abide by their political allegiances?

Based on what I see at synagogue, alas, the answer will be yes. But if that support drops from 78% to closer to 50%, not only will Obama lose Florida, but he will wind up on the defensive in many Blue States as well, costing him precious resources, regardless of how many billions he gets from unions and Big Pharma.

Let's see if there are enough "smart Jews" in America to save Israel....