Why is Obama being so mean to Netanyahu? One possibility is that with the Biden flap, “Netanyahu’s government made Obama look bad, undermining the effort against Iran.” But there’s another possibility, as the Instapundit points out:
Possibly Obama just hates Israel and hates Jews. That’s plausible — certainly nothing in his actions suggests otherwise, really.
The President’s deep personal animosity toward Jews is on fine display in this interesting NYT article:
The day had been long, the hour was late, and the young men had not been home in months. So they had cadged some matzo and Manischewitz wine, hoping to create some semblance of the holiday.
Suddenly they heard a familiar voice. “Hey, is this the Seder?” Barack Obama asked, entering the room.
So begins the story of the Obama Seder, now one of the newest, most intimate and least likely of White House traditions. When Passover begins at sunset on Monday evening, Mr. Obama and about 20 others will gather for a ritual that neither the rabbinic sages nor the founding fathers would recognize.
I can’t decide: is he undermining their traditions from within? Or is he just gathering an awful lot of Jews around him before he detonates?
The Edge of the American West 
27 comments
March 28, 2010 at 5:50 pm
ari
I note that you fail to acknowledge that his middle name is Hussein. It’s kind of transparent when you try to cover for your Islamic brothers, Neddy.
March 28, 2010 at 5:54 pm
kid bitzer
it’s simpler than that, really.
as commander in chief of the armed forces, obama is really just celebrating the “missing man table” ceremony.
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/powday/missingman.htm
this is an ancient ceremony designed to worship the pow’s and mia’s of america. the seder is just totally ripped off from it.
but if obama pointed this out by holding the “missing man” ceremony directly, a lot of jews would feel kinda cheesy and derivative, and he doesn’t want to hurt any feelings.
it’s not easy being commander in chief and also respecting people’s religious sensibilities, however misguided they may be.
March 28, 2010 at 7:05 pm
The Tragically Flip
My own concern revolves around the possibility that Glenn Reynolds likes to have his wife soil diapers and then he gets off by smelling the results. That’s plausible — certainly nothing in his actions suggests otherwise, really.
(Reynolds has coined yet another “it would be irresponsible not to speculate” here)
March 28, 2010 at 10:11 pm
nick
No no no. Obama’s chowing down on bean-heavy mexican food before the ritual.
Why, you ask? Well, to gas them of course.
March 28, 2010 at 11:05 pm
TF Smith
Not to enable the crackpotedness, but are “Israel” and “Jews” really the same thing to individuals like Mr. Reynolds?
I mean, really?
March 29, 2010 at 1:00 am
Walt
I notice you people feel free in making jokes about the “cool” liberal religions like Judaism or Islam, but I notice a shocking silence about the oldest religion, the original religion, the religion of the majority of your countrymen, Christianity. Makes me wonder where your true loyalties lie.
March 29, 2010 at 3:40 am
ajay
Walt: we’re all Scientologists.
March 29, 2010 at 5:06 am
Fats Durston
Hey! Some of us are Mithraists. From when before it was cool.
March 29, 2010 at 5:38 am
NM
What explains Obama’s sour disposition? Maybe he eats his own children, only one of them was really a stone.
March 29, 2010 at 7:15 am
PorJ
Possibly Obama just hates Israel and hates Jews. That’s plausible — certainly nothing in his actions suggests otherwise, really.
I admit I check out Instapundit regularly – mostly for links I wouldn’t get elsewhere (like using TPM and the Corner as mirrors of each other). But this one was so bizarre, I don’t get it. Its like the UT Law Professor is moving into Shape-Shifter Conspiracy territory now.
March 29, 2010 at 8:27 am
dana
The back of my head has been trying to formulate his epistemic principle all morning.
March 29, 2010 at 8:32 am
Ahistoricality
The back of my head has been trying to formulate his epistemic principle all morning.
Hint: That’s not the body part he uses.
March 29, 2010 at 8:47 am
Chris Johnson
“I notice you people feel free in making jokes about the “cool” liberal religions like Judaism or Islam, but I notice a shocking silence about the oldest religion, the original religion, the religion of the majority of your countrymen, Christianity. Makes me wonder where your true loyalties lie.”
Islam is not only cool, but liberal? I did not know that. And bonus new fact — Christianity’s older than Judaism.
March 29, 2010 at 9:29 am
Walt
I’m glad that I could contribute to your stock of knowledge. I’ll be sure to send you a complimentary copy of Religion: A Patriot’s History when it’s finished.
March 29, 2010 at 10:26 am
kid bitzer
dana, have you tried “the norm of assertability is ignorance”?
March 29, 2010 at 10:38 am
dana
No, it’s worse than that. It’s like a demented Sherlock Holmes.
March 29, 2010 at 10:40 am
Gonerill
Top aides like David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett will attend, but so will
assistants like 24-year-old Herbie Ziskend
Herbie is on secondment from a Mordechai Richler novel.
March 29, 2010 at 12:43 pm
jacob
In a very fun and funny thread, Gonerill’s comment made me laugh out loud for several seconds.
March 29, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Martin Wisse
Still my proudest moment to have been able to call out Glenn Reynolds in the NYTimes back in 2003, when he was still being taken seriously by actual liberals.
In 2010, “Instapundit says stupid shit” is about as unusual as “dog bites man”, though this blatant accusation of antisemitism is a new low.
March 29, 2010 at 2:47 pm
THE CON
Maybe its not just jews. Maybe he finds that all religion retards society.
March 29, 2010 at 3:36 pm
rea
Baruch attah Adonai, eloheynu melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-gafen.
See? Obama’s name is right there, in the prayer you say at a Seder! So, as usual, it’s all about Obama!
March 29, 2010 at 5:03 pm
dana
nice.
March 29, 2010 at 9:34 pm
ben
But why Richler specifically?
March 29, 2010 at 10:37 pm
AYY
You omitted what Reynodls said after that, so that your quote takes him out of context. What he said after the sentence you quoted was this:
“But it’s also possible — I’d say likely — that there’s something else going on. I think Obama expects Israel to strike Iran, and wants to put distance between the United States and Israel in advance of that happening. (Perhaps he even thinks that treating Israel rudely will provoke such a response, saving him the trouble of doing anything about Iran himself, and avoiding the risk that things might go wrong if he does). On the most optimistic level, maybe this whole thing is a sham, and the U.S. is really helping Israel strike Iran, with this as distraction. The question for readers is which of these — not necessarily mutually exclusive — explanations is most plausible.”
March 30, 2010 at 4:54 am
SeanH
Or possibly Obama is secretly-double-not-unhelping Israel to backwards-unattack Iran, a cunning foreign policy maneuver whose end goal is Iran hitting itself, why do you keep hitting yourself?
March 30, 2010 at 6:44 am
ajay
On the most optimistic level, maybe this whole thing is a sham, and the U.S. is really helping Israel strike Iran
That’s, like, the best conceivable outcome for the Perfesser. Maybe it’s all right! Maybe Obama isn’t really being rude to Bibi – maybe they’re actually planning to set the entire Middle East on fire!
March 30, 2010 at 11:20 pm
herbert browne
I love when historians replete themselves… ^..^