Neurotic Democrat: “Ross: ‘Obama Will Restore American Standing in the World’”

Aaron Keyak — October 13, 2008 – 3:01 pm | Barack Obama | Election 2008 | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

Josh Rolnick of the Neurotic Democrat always seems to have good posts and as much as we try to link to him you should take a look at Rolnick's blog for yourself on a regular basis. Most recently, Rolnick outlines the latest efforts of Obama's campaign to do outreach to Jewish voters in Ohio. You won't find a better firsthand account. Here's an excerpt, but you should take a look at the entire post.

One incredible aspect of the Obama campaign is just how much it has reached out to Jewish voters.

And, in particular, Jewish voters in Ohio...

Yesterday’s event at Landerhaven banquet hall, which drew an enthusiastic crowd of 700 Jews from the Cleveland area, powerfully reinforced the campaign’s Jewish outreach effort.

The event featured Jewish Senator Carl Levin (See post, Levin: Jews ‘Cannot Tolerate’ Obama Smears), Jewish Congresswoman Jane Harman (See post, Obama-Biden: ‘Much Better for Israel’), Jewish community leader and Obama friend Alan Solow (See post, ‘The First Jewish President of the United States’), and, for good measure, the Jewish Lt. Gov. of Ohio, Lee Fischer.

All of them said, unequivocally, not just that Obama is good for Israel and the Jews — but that he is far betterfor Israel and the Jews than McCain-Palin.

Perhaps the most important testimonial came from Ambassador Dennis Ross, if only because Obama has for so long been falsely smeared for his supposed anti-Israel advisors. Ross is, in fact, Sen. Obama’s senior Middle East advisor. He’s the guy for Obama on Israel...

He connected several dots in the Middle East landscape, creating a bleak picture how how dire the situation has become for Israel since Bush came to power.

• In 2001, Iran was not a nuclear nation; today, it is a nuclear power that continues to enrich uranium, with a stockpile of some 700 kilos — half of what it needs to make a nuclear bomb.
• To Israel’s north, the terrorist group Hezbollah has veto power over the Lebanese government; Hezbollah has a stockpile of 40,000 rockets aimed at Israel.

• To Israel’s south, Hamas has established a “mini-terrorist state,” with 2,000 rockets aimed at Israel.

“Why?” Ross asked. ”Because for the last eight years, we sat on the sidelines. Everything that takes place now, takes place without us.”

“The Bush Administration has failed,” he said. “We are perceived as a country on the decline.”

“When the Bush Administration disengaged from peacemaking for six years, who was the beneficiary? When there is no sense of possibility, no hope [the terrorist organizations and states] are the ones that exploit it.”

 

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