Now Obama Claims He Knows More About Judaism Than Any Other President, Ever

We all know that the Obama administration is the one that has been the friendliest to Israel.

After all, Obama told us so.

Now we find out, via Daniel Halper that Obama is the most knowledgeable president about Judaism we've ever had:

"Rather than describe how deeply I care about Israel, I want to be blunt about how we got here," Obama said, reminding his guests that he had so many Jewish in Chicago at the beginning of his political career that he was accused of being a puppet of the Israel lobby.

In the Senate, he said, his support for Israel's qualitative military edge has been unwavering.

Obama added that people judged his support for Israel because of the differences between a center right government in Israel and center-left in the U.S. - because he pressed Netanyahu too hard in his belief that it's time to seize the moment and pursue peace initiative.

Obama also stressed he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president, because he read about it - and wondered how come no one asks Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner or Senate minority leader Mitch McConnel about their support to Israel.

Let's take this a piece at a time.

You know that Obama is getting desperate when he has to resort to the old "some of my best friends are Jewish" refrain.

There is just a touch of insincerity in Obama's claim that he was accused of being a puppet of the Israel Lobby.

Remember that tape of Obama that the Los Angeles Times refuses to release, apparently because of what Obama said to a pro-Arab crowd?

Why is the Los Angeles Times sitting on a videotape of the 2003 farewell bash in Chicago at which Barack Obama lavished praise on the guest of honor, Rashid Khalidi — former mouthpiece for master terrorist Yasser Arafat?

At the time Khalidi, a PLO adviser turned University of Chicago professor, was headed east to Columbia. There he would take over the University’s Middle East-studies program (which he has since maintained as a bubbling cauldron of anti-Semitism) and assume the professorship endowed in honor of Edward Sayyid, another notorious terror apologist.

The party featured encomiums by many of Khalidi’s allies, colleagues, and friends, including Barack Obama, then an Illinois state senator, and Bill Ayers, the terrorist turned education professor. It was sponsored by the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), which had been founded by Khalidi and his wife, Mona, formerly a top English translator for Arafat’s press agency.

If we are supposed to judge Obama by the company he keeps, what shall we make of his close friendship with Khalidi and Ayres, friendships he denied existed during his campaign.

And while it is nice to hear Obama say that "his support for Israel's qualitative military edge has been unwavering," let's keep in mind that Obama's support for Israel is unwavering because the aid package signed by President Bush makes it so:

US military aid to Israel is set to be delivered as part of a $30 billion 10-year military-aid package signed by President George W. Bush administration in 2007.

From 2009 till 2018 the US is expected to grant Israel some $3 billion per year. Israel may spend 26 percent on locally-manufactured systems while the remaining 74 percent must be spent on US-manufactured systems.

The attempt by the Obama administration to prune the amount of aid to Israel and refusal to specify a funding commitment for Iron Dome back in April are therefore more indicative of Obama's true level of commitment to Israel.

So when we now hear Obama's latest claim about some sort of special relationship with Israel, this time by virtue of his knowledge of Judaism--what can we do but roll our eyes in disbelief?

Pity we don't know what books Obama read that make him so expert about Judaism.
But other presidents did not read about the subject, they read the subject.

Lincoln knew the Bible by heart.
Truman also knew the Bible, or much of it, by heart.
Likewise there are other presidents whose quoting of the Bible indicate some familiarity with the book.

But in the case of Obama, there is no indication that he knows it--only that he read about it.

Like much about the Obama we know now in contrast with what we were told about Obama back in 2008--we are underwhelmed.

Hat tip: Daniel Halper, The Weekly Standard

Technorati Tag: Judaism and Obama.