Democratic Primaries

Madame Speaker is, you will note, un-toppled.

Several young stars from neglected demographics bring potential benefit to the Party's future. I believe it good to have people of such backgrounds in Congress. It may be an old style view, but there are so many on the other side particularly who have no capacity to imagine people unlike themselves, and their presence may serve to humanize their fellows for such persons. This potential is not to be sneezed at. They are as individuals people of impressive quality, and first-rate humans are not to be discarded lightly, they are not that common.

I do not see from your comments above (forgive me if it is in the link) any indication Rep. Omar no longer does, or never did, back a two state solution. If she has changed her mind regarding the boycott, it does not trouble me much. I do not agree with the boycott, but by now the Israeli government is every bit the obstacle as Hamas and the old PLO. "One land between the river and the sea' is a fair summation of both sides at present, though only one states so openly, and the side that does not state so openly has the power to enforce the doctrine, whereas the other is impotent to secure that dream. I do include assessment of capabilities in evaluating threats.

For the record, if you are not aware of this, for some years here I was a leading light of 'Team Israel' in the old Israel/Palestine forum (which old lags may recall came to be known as 'The Sand Trap' because so many people got expelled out of it) and I was one of the first pair of moderators charged with enforcing the new special rules for that forum near the start of 2002, along with an excellent fellow, Mr. Jack Rabbit (as he signed himself), who was a leading light of 'Team Palestine'. I have no intention of wrangling the matter here, with anyone, but state this only to make clear that there are long reasons why today I would not move a pixel to defend the last decade of Likud governance in Israel, though I do continue in the conviction Israel properly is and should remain a Jewish state. But its government under Netanyahu has done tremendous harm to the country's standing, and the place is sufficiently a democracy that one can only conclude the voters there are getting the government they desire. I would not consider a politician's support for boycotting Israel sufficient reason to vote against him or her. It might be the icing on a cake of more substantial objections concerning domestic policy or other questions of foreign policy, but it is far from sufficient in itself. When all is said and done, there is not much an individual Representative can do to bring about such a great change in national policy as a serious boycott of Israel would require.