A shared set of ideals

Editorial

The apparent neck-and-neck race for the Democratic nomination in the United States has made anyone who pays attention to politics take a second look at Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

The senator, who until four years ago was almost unknown outside his home state, is now the front-runner for both the Democratic nomination and the presidency, depending in which polls you put stock. Hillary Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, changed campaign managers this week, hoping that might turn the tide.

But there is a mania for newness that seems to be sweeping that country. And, as another factor, Obama's truly astounding gifts for oratory and inspiring masses cannot be overlooked. It is not merely novelty that he offers, but hope – if not detailed policy plans.

America's morale is at one of its lowest ebbs ever. Its military superiority undermined, its economic superiority now seems under similar threat. Whether the hope he offers is false or real, hope is something Americans both want and need right now. And, despite his insistence that there is nothing false about hope, even Obama cannot know whether it is merited until, if ever, he gets his hands on the levers of power.

For her part, Clinton is correct in contending that she has been vetted; that there cannot possibly be anything more to come out about her personal life or political views that has not already been splayed across tabloids. On the flipside, Obama's freshness begs presently unanswerable questions about what we don't know about him, personally and politically.

An issue that is clearly of importance to Jewish voters is what kind of a friend he would be to Israel. This concern arises in Canada, too, about our leaders. We are likely to squeeze our own election into the next few months – as the American marathon drags on – and the attitudes of our politicians toward Israel reflect unique outlooks different from our American neighbors (in ways that will be explored in the Independent when a Canadian election is called).

On Israel and every other issue, Obama is asking Americans to place an enormous amount of authority, including the power to blow up the world, in the hands of a single individual whose name we did not even know four years ago. It is tempting to say that Americans could hardly do worse than what they've got now but, in fact, George W. Bush is a good argument against freshness.

But a presidential candidate's attitude toward Israel is not as urgent a question as it seems. Whoever is the next president, Democrat or Republican, man or woman, black or white, very little is likely to change regarding America's approach to Israel. This is not, as Israel's conspiratorial critics contend, because Jews pull the strings in Washington. It is because the relationship between the United States and Israel is beyond politics and ideology.

From the beginning, the United States and Israel have had a very special relationship. While critics contend that there is something unsavory about this, that it is based on political machinations or devious international realpolitik, it is in fact as natural a fraternal relationship as two states could have.

The special connection is based on mutual values that, in 1776, were considered revolutionary and which, it turns out, remain rare enough to be notable even today, particularly in the Middle East outside Israel.

They are ideals to which both the United States and Israel (as well as Canada) aspire and strive to attain, sometimes successfully, sometimes not: the ideal that all humans are created equal, with certain unalienable rights; governments, which the people are free to change, that respect difference and enshrine it in law; the right of individuals to determine the course of their own lives, including freedom of and from religion; allowing people to express themselves without fear; and people's right to make the most personal of choices, including their manner of dress, with all that entails.

These shared ideals, not anything nefarious, are at the root of the American-Israeli friendship. And, because ideals often reach beyond their grasp, both countries know the sting of criticism when their actions contradict their best aspirations. But Americans and Israelis also know that aspiring to these ideals, even if not always attaining them, is a bond that sets them aside from those states that do not even aspire.

No matter who wins a given election, none of this will change.

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