(DOWNLOAD) "Looking Into the Lobby: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Annual Conference is One of Washington's Most Important--and Least Reported--Events (Politics)" by The American Conservative # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Looking Into the Lobby: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Annual Conference is One of Washington's Most Important--and Least Reported--Events (Politics)
- Author : The American Conservative
- Release Date : January 30, 2008
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 74 KB
Description
FOR THREE DAYS in the capital in early June, suspense built over the question of how the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference would greet Barack Obama. There was a lot of grousing about Obama in the hallways of the Washington Convention Center, and AIPAC officials repeatedly warned the faithful to be respectful. "We are not a debate society or a protest movement. ... our goal is to have a friend in the White House," executive director Howard Kohr said in a strict tone. It wasn't hard to imagine things going poorly: Obama gets booed on national television. He feels insulted. Conservative Jewish donors and voters turn off to Obama. He becomes president without their support. AIPAC has no friend in the Oval Office. But of course, Obama complied. His speech became the annual example the conference provides of a powerful man truckling. Two years ago, it was Vice President Cheney's red-meat speech attacking the Palestinians. Last year, it was Pastor John Hagee's scary speech saying that giving the Arabs any part of Jerusalem was the same as giving it to the Taliban. Obama took a similar line. He suggested that he would use force to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, made no mention of Palestinian human rights, and said that Jerusalem "must remain undivided," a statement so disastrous to the peace process that his staff rescinded it the next day. Big deal. The actual meeting had gone swimmingly.