Putting Myself in Obama's Shoes

I came upon a group of fairly prominent Jews who had signed on to a letter posted at www.jews4obama.net. One comment to the letter was this:

1.Nancy Kreiter
Winnetka, Illinois

As a woman, an activist and a Jew, I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Barack Obama over the last decade. He is a “once in a lifetime” leader. His genuine desire to engage, listen and roll up his own sleeves to find solutions accounts for his unique ability to inspire others.

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I’m beginning to calm down and put myself in Obama’s shoes. I can imagine the finger and handwringing that must’ve gone on when he first heard about his pastor’s comments about a year ago. Obama is a very smart guy. He knew this day would come.. He and his wife were, I am sure, torn about what to do about Pastor Wright’s comments in the context of a presidential campaign.

What Would Moshe Rabbeinu do? As a senator or a human being you don’t just ‘up and leave’ your place of worship after 20 years, do you? You stay and try to change what’s happening intra-organizationally.

Who are we to judge what someone else does in a particular situation if we ourselves have never been IN that situation? To stay in the church at this point is not good politically, obviously, nor does it make for good television (this is not black and white), but in this age of YouTube, Huffington Post and the rest, we (I) have to, repeat have to, slow down in direct correlation with the speed of information that is constantly coming at us. It is easy to react viscerally, which is what I did.

G-d, though furious with the Israelites for making idols whilst Moshe Rabbeinu was on Sinai getting the first edition of the 10 Commandments, gave the Israelites a second chance and didn’t end up killing them all. (talk about mass murder on a huge scale!) after a discussion with Moses in which he, Moses, begged and pleaded for his people's very existence.

This election isn’t about Pastor Jeremiah Wright with whose comments I do not entirely disagree with, except that he neglected in his sermon to mention the firebombing of civilians in Europe by the US and British Air Corps during WWII – Dresden, Hamburg, etc. Certainly Brig. Gen. Arthur “Bomber” Harris, the inventor of nighttime raids on cities in Germany would be a war criminal by today’s standards, no doubt, along with his American counterpart whose name escapes me at the moment as the US was doing what the British were doing, only in the daytime. But we won THAT war. I agree with Pastor Wright that the chickens HAVE come home to roost, but please, don't blame Jews. The fact is that America is hated for, among other things, "soiling" the sacred ground where Mohammed walked and they want us out of there. So just as soon as we figure out how to make electric vehicles that will do 0-60 in 4 seconds and which do not cost $100,000 (there is one company, Tesla Motors, that does sell such a car) and close down the oil companies, we can leave the Arabs in peace. Hopefully. Unless you buy into the strong argument that the Koran teaches world domination. Let us leave that topic alone for now.

This election is about this country. Ms. Kreiter says she worked with him for 10 years. I will listen to someone with that experience with him. We all ought to, lest we further divide the country and give Sybilla (Sybil+Atilla the Hun) or Grampa Munster (John McCain) the presidency. I want to see Obama win, if only to see how it turns out. We cannot always control the actions or words of others and are only in a position to make moral judgments based on actions. And both Obama’s words and deeds are consistent with someone who cares about a Jewish core value: tikkun olam, the repair of the world, and those people like me who were quick to jump on him should calm down long enough to reflect on what they would have done under similar circumstances.

One does not repair the world by stomping off of it in a huff because certain things are not exactly the way we would like them. Pastor Wright is only a human being, prone to make mistakes, as we all are. Nothing on this earth and no-one in it is perfect. If that were the case, the Messiah would already be here. There is more work to be done, and I am sticking with Obama.