At last, an Adult in the Room

This iconic photo of Bibi made the frontpage of the WSJ and the Washington Post, as well as the fishwrap on the East Coast but not the West Coast.  At USA Today, it was small and below the fold. And in all of Europe, it appeared only on the front page of Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. So much for warning the world. 

 

I watched Bibi speak at the UN General Assembly yesterday, and thought both he and the speech  were impeccable -- and his prop, iconic.  His delivery was the personfication of what Jabotinsky called "hadar," a Hebrew term that is difficult to translate. Roughly, it is a kind of nobility that is born of integrity and based on an understanding of the Jewish people as descendants of the kings of Israel. 

Literally, the word means shine or glow, but as Jabotinsky taught it, it implied a certain chivalry in conduct and life-style, a combination, as he defined it, of "outward beauty, respect, self-esteem, politeness, faithfulness.

For ten or maybe even fifteen minutes after his speech had ended, I felt a happiness I had thought might never return to me. It was a feeling of relief, and safety. There was - at last - an adult in the room, someone who understood the problem in all its complexity as well as its simplicity, someone who knew what to do and will do it.  I was proud of Bibi. He took the light of Jewish character into that den of liars, cheaters and thieves, and while he stood at the podium, the darkness receded.

But then, of course, the denunications started almost immediately. Most offensive to me were the comments of treacherous American Jews in the Punditry. I will not repeat them here, in the hope that if ignored, their words will wilt on the vine, never to see harvest.

 

Meanwhile, the Obamists are downplaying expectations for the upcoming debates. I guess Eye Candy is good for 'The View,' but not so much when it comes to debates on important, even urgent, matters of national policy.  David Axelrod "explains" that the debate is slanted in Romney's favor - by way of Alicia Cohn at The Hill:

[D]ebates—and particularly the first debate—generally favor challengers. Five out of the last six challengers were perceived to win the first debate against an incumbent president.  Most profit from having debated throughout the primary season, as Gov. Romney will. And it is natural for a challenger to gain simply from standing on the stage, toe-to-toe with the incumbent. Finally, the challenger, unencumbered by the responsibilities of being the President, has more time to prepare—a benefit of which Gov. Romney has taken full advantage.

 

But what would you call our Presidential Eye Candy, if not "unencumbered by the responsibilities of being the President"? He hasn't been encumbered by his Daily Presidential Briefings, which he prefers to skim on his iPad. He hasn't been encumbered by meetings with world leaders at the United Nations, which he's outsourced to Hillary. And he certainly hasn't been encumbered by his responsibility to tell us the truth, that his administration was unprepared for a yet another deadly 9/11 al Qaeda attack on Americans, from which he failed to keep us safe -- and then conspired to cover up that failure (see "Benghazi-Gate").

Well, the cynic in me has no doubt that his media operatives will leak the debate questions to him in advance, anyway.  Of course the honesty and integrity of these debates are way too important to leave in the hands of our distrusted media, but that's exactly where they sit. 

 

It's really too bad that in this country there's no adult in the room... just a bunch of unaddressed elephants.

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Every word you've written about Bibi's speech is, Yael, perfectly chosen -- and perfectly true. As a speech junkie who sometimes regrets not having been there to hear Lincoln speak at Gettysburg or Patrick Henry declaim "If this be treason, make the most of it," I finally had the satisfaction of knowing that I had heard -- as it actually happened -- one of history's great orations. And as a guy who once earned a living by writing speeches, I can say only that the passages in Bibi's speech detailing the construction of a nuke were a masterpiece of clarity and concision -- and beyond the capacity of many ordinary speechwriters. The entire speech was -- in a word -- magisterial, or -- in still another word -- momentous. Why momentous? Because it introduced something new into a world ravaged by lies: it introduced the TRUTH. Incidentally, the speech also, I believe, did something it wasn't intended to do: It gave us all a lesson in how the "new" antisemitism differs from the old. In the past, most so-called upper-class antisemitism was fairly genteel; that is to say, it was practiced mostly behind closed doors and in hushed tones. Successful businessmen may have told crude jokes about Jews -- but they usually told them in the "safe" confines of their country clubs or in letters written privately to friends. But, as we saw yesterday when our UN ambassador, Susan Rice, chose not to attend Bibi's speech and chose to attend a luncheon instead, today's "upper" class antisemitism is anything but genteel; it is raw, open, and in-your-face. The luncheon, not so surprisingly, was hosted by Hillary Clinton for visiting foreign ministers. Surely Hillary knew, when she scheduled the luncheon, that it would conflict with Bibi's speech, and -- just as surely -- she didn't care. This is bald, sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb, plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face antisemitism. The antisemitism of the elite was once an addiction reluctant to show its face in public; today's elitist antisemitism shouts itself to the world. In the end, of course, none of this will really matter. As Bibi made plain yesterday -- in ringing language worthy of the prophets of Israel -- we Jews are here to stay. So I suppose Rice and Clinton will just have to get used to the fact. Or not.