For pro-Israel voters, Obama’s middle name should be the least of their concerns
The story focused on Obama’s time as an Illinois state legislator, just five years ago, when he was friends, if not allied, with Rashid Khalidi, the vocal anti-Zionist professor at Columbia University who at the time was living in Obama’s Chicago district; Edward Said, the late anti-Zionist professor and member of the Palestinian Authority legislature; and Ali Abunimah, a resident of Obama’s district and editor of the Electronic Intifada online journal.
At a farewell party for Khalidi, Obama is quoted as saying that his conversations with Khalidi had been “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases.”
Wallsten writes, the Obama-Khalidi relationship “have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say.”
They base that belief on his presence at “events where anger at Israeli and U.S. Middle East policy was freely expressed,” not unlike those who wonder about Obama’s truest self after his relationship with Wright and his anger.