Monday, July 01, 2019
Elder of Ziyon
While I have occasionally critiqued specific people and
policies connected to a political party or wing of the political spectrum, I’ve
made it a point to try to illuminate what’s behind the Left-Right divide on
Israel, rather than contribute to it.
With that as backdrop, the following critique of someone
running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States should
not be seen as an endorsement of anyone else in that race, nor support (or
condemnation) of those who don’t have a (D) after their name.
But the rise and (likely) fall of US Senator Cory Booker
should be a cautionary tale for those who think they can betray their
principles, then “pivot” back to integrity after the damage has been done.
Booker has been on my radar ever since I attended my first AIPAC event where the
young and rising political star gave what was possibly the most powerful and
inspiring speech on Israel I ever heard. His talk drew from his experience
interacting with the Chabad community while he was a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, notably
how his relationship with their Rabbi Shmuley Boteach helped him appreciate
both Judaism and the centrality of Israeli to Jewish life.
Since then I’ve kept track of Booker’s rise of the cursus honorum,
hoping for the opportunity to vote for the man I saw all those years ago for
President. Unfortunately, now that the
chance to do so has arrived, the person I was so impressed with is no longer
there.
I suspect that the turning point for Booker came when he had
the opportunity to vote against President Obama’s Iran deal, a vote that might
have eventually earned him a Profiles in Courage award, but which would
have cost him support of a popular president and the enmity of the most
powerful people in his party at a time when a presidential run was clearly in
his future. Sadly, Booker took the
expedient route and voted for something he probably knew was not right. Even more sadly, in justifying that vote, had
had to justify moving away from all he said – and I suspect believed – as a
younger, wiser man.
Given the dynamics of the current presidential race, where
dozens of candidates have to go to extreme measures to stand out from the
crowd, Booker seems to be playing the game of saying the right things to the
Jewish community, while acting against Israel’s interests (by, among other
things, voting against federal anti-BDS legislation) and justifying those
choices with stale talking points I can’t believe he really buys.
Booker’s path has cost him the support (although not the
friendship) of his old friend Boteach,
and his current two-step regarding whether or not he will meet with Louis
Farrakhan simply illustrates more of the same triangulation calculated to
signal to Left wing primary votes that he is one of them, while trying not to
alienate the Jewish community so much that he loses their long-term support.
Unfortunately for him, all of this calculated pandering does
not seem to have budged him in the polls. Part of this is the sheer difficulty
breaking through all of the noise, especially with the most aggressive members
of the Democratic pack out-Lefting him at every turn. But I also suspect that primary voters with
little involvement or even interest in Jewish or Middle East issues recognize
inauthenticity when they see it.
The sad thing is that even Booker’s switch to a “balanced”
position between Israel and her would-be destroyers has not earned him
substantial or lasting support from Israel haters who are only too ready to not
just abandon but punish
anyone who deviates even an angstrom degree from their ever-changing list of
demands.
Demands for fealty by the BDS crowd stands in sharp contrast
to large swaths of the Jewish community not ready to abandon Booker even when
he acts against their interests. Perhaps
this longing for friendship (especially by a rising African American political
star) represents weakness on our part, although it could also represent hope
that the man who spoke so eloquently at AIPAC way back then is the real Cory
Booker, who is just playing the cards he’s been dealt in a strange political
era.
Maybe they are right and in five years we’ll be watching
Cory Booker accept the nomination of his party for a second term in
office. But I suspect that what we are
really watching is a man sacrificing both his soul and his dreams by walking
away from what he believes in order to achieve what he wants.
If Cory ends up an also-ran, with nothing to show for all
he’s sacrificed, that should serve as a lesson not for just him, but all of
us. In ways large and small, we are
asked to (and often make) compromises to get through life, but our integrity –
that which makes us truly us – is something that must never be put up for
auction. Living an inauthentic life has
a high cost, which Booker is currently paying.
But his sacrifice might have value if it teaches the rest of us not to
make the same mistake.
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