Last week’s release of the Barack Obama/Derrick Bell Harvard tape was seen by many as another example of the President’s long history associating with radicals.
There is another interpretation, however. When Obama urged people to open up their hearts and minds to Bell, it was another case of him “cozying up” to an antisemite. Understand–we are not talking about people who are anti-Israel (although there is a huge crossover of the two) but people who regularly use antisemitic stereotypes or more directly derogatory comments about Jews.
Here are some examples:
Derrick Bell: Bell was a leading proponent of Critical Race Theory (CRT), described by Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry in Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law as an example of extreme multiculturalism. They add:
The radical theories inescapably imply that Jews and Asians enjoy an unfair share of wealth and status. Thus, the necessary normative implication of the radical theory is that steps should be taken to redress the balance more in favor of white gentiles. In addition, the radicals cannot easily explain Jewish and Asian success. Although benign explanations for this success are available, they are logically inconsistent with radical multiculturalism; consequently, the radicals would be forced to explain Jewish and Asian success by deploying theories that parallel historic forms of anti-Semitism. In short, if the radical multiculturalists are not personally anti-Semitic or anti-Asian, it is only because they have failed to work fully though the logic of their own theories.
More directly, Bell appeared to believe that Jews have an ulterior motive for everything. For example, in his novella, “The Space Traders,” Bell argued that Jews help blacks so they themselves won’t become the target of bigotry.
Merrill A. McPeak: Co-Chair of Obama’s 2008 campaign, McPeak is a believer in that old “Jews control the government” meme. In one interview, he suggested that U.S. politicians are afraid of Jewish voters in Miami and New York City and that American Jews are the “problem” impeding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sen. Chuck Hagel: When Obama was first elected, Hagel–a friend from Obama’s brief service in the U.S. Senate–was believed to be the president’s first choice for Defense Secretary. Hagel was once quoted as saying: “The political reality is that… the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here.”
Sorry, Chuck, but the only Jewish lobby I know of is in my house–and my wife says it needs a paint job.
Khalid al-Mansour and Al-Waleed bin Talal: According to Sutton, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal (the guy whose ten million dollars were rejected by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani because he had blamed 9/11 on Israel) and Khalid al-Mansour of the antisemitic Nation of Islam were instrumental in assisting the future president’s Harvard ambitions.