Obama supporters: Conscience in the voting booth?

Just ask yourself these few questions about Obama, and be honest with yourself about the answers.

By ABRAHAM KATSMAN, KORY BARDASH
mccain thumbs up 248.88 ap (photo credit: AP)
mccain thumbs up 248.88 ap
(photo credit: AP)
A JPost.com exclusive blog
For our Barack Obama-supporting friends who are concerned for Israel, here are some thoughts and matters to chew over on your way to vote on Tuesday. Just ask yourself these few questions about Obama, and be honest with yourself about the answers. Every one of the facts below has been reported by major media, yet gets glossed over by Obama's Jewish Democrat surrogates. Deep in your heart, don't these issues matter to you? Can you at least acknowledge that each is deeply troubling? And added together...?
Does it matter to you at all that Obama and his wife were the closest of friends with former PLO-spokesman Rashid Khalidi, and that he publicly praised Khalidi for correcting "my own blind spots and my own biases"? That Obama directed $40,000 of foundation money to a viciously anti-Israel Palestinian group (Arab American Action Network) run by Khalidi and his wife Mona? That the Khalidis held a fundraiser for Obama? That the Los Angeles Times admits it is holding a tape of Obama toasting the Khalidis which they refuse to release even a transcript of?
Does that not matter to you, Alan Dershowitz, Marty Peretz, J-Street, Dennis Ross, and other prominent Jewish Obama supporters? Where are your important public voices? It must matter greatly to you if Obama actually made those statements, which are completely antithetical to Israel's legitimacy, and you must be anxious to learn the truth; we're all waiting for you to publicly call on the LA Times to release at least a transcript. [Cue sound of crickets.] Hello?
Does it really not matter to each of you that Obama chose, of all churches he could have joined, Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity Church? That he considered Rev. Wright his closest adviser and intellectual father-figure? That he sat in the church's pews for 20 years hearing Rev. Wright every week expound on Black Liberation Theology, loaded with race-baiting anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism? That Rev. Wright conducted Obama's wedding and baptized his children? That his church honored Louis Farrakhan? That it carried columns in its newsletter from Hamas, whose charter calls for the death of all Jews? That it carried Reverend Wright's infamous anti-Israel "War in Iraq IQ Test"? That Oprah Winfrey left the church due to Rev. Wright's incendiary statements, but Obama would not? That even Obama-supporting Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) finally admitted that "Obama didn't have the political courage to walk out on his church"? That Obama only left the church once pressured by politics to do so in the middle of this campaign? That Obama only then claimed to be "shocked" and "outraged" by quotes from Rev. Wright's speeches?
Does it matter to you at all that the Speaker of Iran's parliament last week endorsed Obama, expecting him to be "more flexible" on Middle East issues? That today Obama was endorsed by Hugo Chavez? That he was endorsed by Hamas (who, in the next breath, praised President Jimmy Carter as "a noble man" who "did an excellent job as President")? That there are call-centers in Hamas-controlled Gaza contacting voters in America to get them to vote for Obama? That the Obama campaign has already returned some $33,000 in illegal donations from Gaza? That Obama's choice for Muslim outreach, Mazen Asbahi, had to resign this past August when his affiliation with radical Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood came to public light? That prominent Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah, who has known Obama for many years, has told of how Obama "used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time"? That at a 2004 dinner gathering, says Abunimah, Obama greeted him warmly and said privately that he needed to speak cautiously about the Middle East: "that he was sorry he wasn't talking more about the Palestinian cause, but that his primary campaign had constrained what he could say"? That, referring to Abunimah's recent anti-Israel newspaper opinion pieces, Obama told him to "keep up the good work"?
Does it matter to you at all that the identities of 80% of Obama's campaign contributors to his record-shattering cash haul are not disclosed (while the McCain campaign discloses all donors)? That many Obama donations have been made with untraceable pre-paid credit cards, come from obviously bogus names, and/or are not in whole dollar amounts, indicating conversions from foreign currencies?
Does it matter to you that Obama, with no foreign policy or military background of his own, has chosen foreign policy advisors - from all the available experts - among those most hostile to Israel? That his team is full of old Carter hands, advocates of more Oslo compromises, and those who believe that Israel is the true obstacle to regional peace? That even Marty Peretz, in a more candid moment, admitted that the Obama foreign policy team, including Susan Rice, Anthony Lake and Zbibniew Brzezinski, gave him "the shudders"? That Obama's handpicked former key advisor, Samantha Power, is a devotee of the Walt-Mearsheimer view of Zionist control of America's foreign policy, and has proposed an American military "mammoth protection force" to occupy Israel and impose a US "settlement" on Israel and the Palestinians? That she had to resign not for her hideously anti-Israel views, but for calling Hillary Clinton a "monster"?
Does it matter to you that both Obama and running mate Joe Biden have been publicly critical of Israel's Likud Party (likely to win the upcoming Israeli election) and of AIPAC? That Obama has refused to condemn the Palestinian Authority for its support of and incitement to terrorism? That he has refused to support moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, even though it is already under construction? That Biden has been called "Teheran's favorite Senator," has advocated aid to Iran, and was one of only a handful of Senators opposing designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group? That Obama has been rated by the non-partisan National Journal as the single most left-wing member of the entire Senate? That Biden was rated third?
Will Obama really be "good for Israel," as per his surrogate's unsupported declarations? In light of each of these facts, how do they square their support for Obama with their self-proclaimed devotion to Israel's security? They squander their credibility as Israel-advocates by not even addressing these facts, instead cynically opting to cash in on their Israel credentials by authoritatively speaking soothing, albeit empty, words to the pro-Israel electorate in order to promote their partisan and personal political interests. Of those Americans actually on the ground in Israel, not even one in four voted for Obama. Maybe those Americans are the Israel-experts you should listen to.
Go through those questions again. In light of all that, are you really, honestly comfortable voting for Obama? Ok, you might not be electrified by John McCain, but you know he's a decent man with a lifelong record of honor and heroism, and an actual record of 25 years of rock-solid support for Israel.
Regardless which candidate you've vocally supported, when it's just you and your conscience in the voting booth, keep in mind what really matters to you. Pull the lever for John McCain.
Abraham Katsman is Counsel Republicans Abroad Israel; Kory Bardash is RAI's co-chair