Obama Uber Alles? Media Ignore Gaffes In White House Call with Rabbis

Photo of Tim Graham.
  • Bookmark and Share

Blogging for U.S. News & World Report, Paul Bedard reported a double standard in how President Obama and President Bush were treated (or ridiculed) when each wished Jews a Happy New Year a little early, or in Obama's case, a month early:

Washington Jewish Week and Politico tell us that Obama today reached out to about 1,000 Jewish leaders in his expanding campaign for health care reform. One of those on the call, Rabbi Jack Moline, tweeted through the call about what the president said. His Twitter page noted: Obama: "shanah tovah to all of you."

That's a reference to the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashana, which starts at sundown September 18. It means "Have a sweet new year." An associate said that the president was just being polite with the rabbis, and spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Obama was invited by the rabbis to join in on the call "as they get ready for their important holidays."

But in September 2007, when Bush issued a holiday greeting a week early, he was roundly ridiculed for jumping the gun. The Washington Post said that there was "quizzical reaction" from even Bush's friends.

A former Bushie who remembered the spat said: "Strange. When GWB sent out Rosh Hashana greetings a few days early, he was mocked. Obama is an entire month too early, and no big whoop."

For the record, Bush's was an official statement, while Obama's appears to have been a verbal nicety.

Over at The Corner, Tevi Troy, a Jewish liaison for President Bush, notes another thing the Bush-loathing media would have never ignored if it occurred in his time: "the hold music on the line, through no apparent fault of the White House or the Religious Action Center [of Reform Judaism], which sponsored the call, was 'Deutschland Über Alles.' A number of rabbis apparently expressed discomfort with this choice of music as well."

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

To Sum it All Up:

Anything Obama does - Okay, maybe even extraordinary

Anything Bush did - Wrong

Just a little tepid there,

Just a little tepid there, I think. When Obama does anything -- anything at all, there is mass worshipping by the media, accompanied by drooling talking heads, awe and wonderment by pundits, and whitewashing of any "minor" blemishes.

Finally, a picture is taken -- of an upturned head, and usually at an angle that allows a background image to be depicted as a halo. And then the whole event is documented as extraordinary.

After all, this is the only man who had a presidential seal drawn up as "The Office of the President-elect". Which, also, must have been a wonderful thing. But the only reason he did this was to try to replace President Bush imediately after election, rather than waiting for the innaguration. That's also why he started up his weekly radio addresses at the same time, to try to trump President Bush.

___________________________________ 

"Tax the rich" is a basically unstable way of governing - The NYT

Sorry, ThisnThat

It was a tepid comment.  But it was early and I am a slow starter...

Nice job on yours, though.

Obama is a Genuis

Don't you understand that Obama may be the greatest genuis to have ever walked the face of the earth?

He is so brilliant that he can

  1. Automate medical records without any data entry cost for physicians.
  2. Make cars get 30mpg
  3. Use wind and solar Power to meet all our electric needs even though these technologies are more expensive than the $40 per megawatt hour wholesale cost of coal power, and not suitable for baseload power.

The genuis behind all this - the catch phrase "Yes we can", which will now be known as Newtons Fourth Law of Physics.

What an imbecile Palin is. She thinks these tasks are hard, expensive and wasteful.

 

Newton's Fourth Law of

Newton's Fourth Law of Physics..Yes, we can! -allanf

LOL  I love it!

 

Wait, wait...

Don't forget lower the tides...

Hey, wait a second. If he can lower the tides, how come he had to go late to Martha's Vineyard because of big ocean? What a liar!

And save the

And save the ecomany! 

"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...

Well allanf

If we could harness all the hot air coming from The Chosen One we would be have all the energy we need.

Just Say Yes We Can

Or is you are Dorothy of Kansas, use your magic slippers

→ Better yet

Can we harness the hydroelectric power of President Wee-Wee?

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

CA

You aint kidding.Just curious if The Chosen One was trying to get all the Rabbi's to push Obamacare.Why isnt the left raiseing hell about separation of church and state?If President Bush even looked at a bible the left was in a uproar over it.

→ I was expecting it

After Obama's teleconference with 2000 pastors trying to convince them to shed a favorable light on his healthcare plan, I expected to hear about preachers all over the USA thanking God that Obama has lifted the threat of IRS sanctions on churches for political speech.

My preacher didn't even mention it.  It would have been a great opportunity.

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

CA

Amazing how that works.I guess if you preach for the left it is A Ok.During the Clinton years same thing.

Obama will be made right

Expect them to now officially change the date of Jewish New Year to match Obama's date.

 

 

 

"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary."

--Ernesto "Che" Guevara

LOL

Yes, I believe it was Einstein who said, "If the theory doesn't fit the facts, change the facts." As we all know, Obama is even SMARTER than Einstein.

Hussein Is Not Only SMART . . .

. . . he's Homer Simpson SMRT.

Qur'an

Actually, I wonder if Obama is going to offer prayer and reading of the Qur'an during Ramadan? I'll bet he does, even if it is to a private group. But his ego is so large, he might do it in open defiance of America, just to prove we're not a Christian natiion. And to demonstrate, once again, the enormous contributions Muslims have made to today's civilized society. Yeah, right.

___________________________________ 

"Tax the rich" is a basically unstable way of governing - The NYT

No "Apparent" Fault

"the hold music on the line, through no apparent fault of the White
House or the Religious Action Center [of Reform Judaism], which
sponsored the call, was 'Deutschland Über Alles.'"

No "apparent" fault... yeah, right.  If you believe that, I have an orange bridge over the San Francisco Bay that I'd like to sell you.

This is especially unnerving after The One's reverent Ramadan greetings (http://www.youtube.c...).  I didn't hear the "Theme from Exodus" playing in the background on that clip.

_______________________________________________

Camouflage conservative in Baghdad-by-the-Bay

"the hold music on the

"the hold music on the line, through no apparent fault of the White
House or the Religious Action Center [of Reform Judaism], which
sponsored the call, was 'Deutschland Über Alles.'

Had it been Bush, the phrase  through no apparent fault of the White
House
would have been absent, for starters. It would not have been mentioned as a highlight, it would have been the lead story.  

Bush WH plays German anthem to waiting Rabbis

Ja Vol, we can!!

I think those LaRouche supporters might be onto something with that whole "Obama is Hitler" thing. What's next, putting those rabbis on a train to DC? Oh, Robert Gibbs, you guys are marvelous!

You support the troops by supporting the mission! If you don't support the mission, have the guts to say you don't support the troops.

Obama: Not my President. Ever.

Let me see. The Dear Leader

Let me see. The Dear Leader chooses not to publicly participate in the National Day of Prayer. "Separation of church and state" yada, yada, yada.  YET when it's politically expedient, he's all about acknowledging a Jewish holy season. Just another example of his inherent duplicity and lack of any true religious conviction or devotion to the Almighty. He has placed himself above the Almighty. And God will eventually "get" him for that.

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money."

—Margaret Thatcher

Oy Vey, Obama's discover his Jewish roots

Oy Vey

What a...

1. Schmuck

2. Putz

3. Schlemiel

You choose the yiddish pejorative you feel most comfortable using in public.

Thanks Barack! You've done more to promote conservatism than any president since Ronald Reagan (PBUH).

One Mashuga Goy

Mayn prom (shveb-shif) iz ful mit veners.

Just like the Orbitz one.

Hussein = It's all good.

Bush = It's all his fault.

Languages--maybe not

He told us to all learn a language, but he isn't gifted there...Didn't Hillary also call the RESET button a banana or something in Russian. Stick to um, uh...English.

Re Language

I don't see how he got through Occidental, Columbia and Harvard without a second language, unless perhaps under the disguise of a 'foreign student' he used English as his second language. On the other hand maybe he knows a second language that he doesn't want us to know about, like koranic arabic. Just another reason why the transcripts are buried deep.

Forgive Obama

It's August and he's all wee weed up.

Deutschland Uber Alles!!

hold music for the rabbis!!! 

Heads must roll! 

free tickets for the rabbis to see "Inglourious Basterds"

A few hundred free tickets for the rabbis to see "Inglourious Basterds" will smooth that over fast.

And now for something completely different....

Washington Jewish Week and Politico tell us that Obama today reached out to about 1,000 Jewish leaders in his expanding campaign for health care reform. One of those on the call, Rabbi Jack Moline, tweeted through the call about what the president said. His Twitter page noted: Obama: "Allah Akbar to all of you." Initially, the Jewish leaders were taken aback by the greeting; however, by the end of the meeting, all but one had converted to Islam, denounced their families and country, and hailed Barrack Hussien as the second coming of Mohammed. sheesh.