Hillary we never knew you!

Jewish groups are lamenting Hillary Clinton's recent criticisms of Israel over its failure to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel claims it is a conduit to resupply Hamas. Jewish leaders in the US wonder what happenned to the ardently pro-Israel Senator Clinton?

Whatever the truth of the Gaza situation, Jewish leaders should hardly be surprised about Hillary's about-face, since the singular mark of politics today, especially but not exclusively among liberals, is to be whatever is needed to get elected. Hence, First Lady Hillary, perhaps showing her true opinion, was a supporter of Palestinian rights. When she decided to run for the US Senate seat from "Manhattan", she suddenly discovered her inner Jewish child. Now that she is liberated from the unwavering support of Israel demanded of that office, and serving in what conservative Jews feared would be a Palestinian-leaning Obama administration, she is back at it again. Which Hillary is the authentic one?

In fact, it doesn't really matter. The issue is the duplicity and hypocrisy of liberal politicians, for whom truth is a maleable concept and the end fully justifies the means. While it may be possible to "admire" the clear conviction of the far left in ideas that betray mental corruption, in the same way one can admire death-defying stunt artists without the least desire to imitate them, the moderate left is far more dangerous. They are many more of them than the extreme left and they are perfectly willing to say and do anything to get elected and stay elected. Once elected they either implement or lay the ground work for the far left, which would never otherwise, govern. After all, there are only a few zip codes where Sean Penn could get elected.

So, what of Obama? During the campaign he portrayed himself as a "moderate" leftist, on the economy, on social issues such as abortion, marriage and gay rights. He did this despite a history of extreme positions on all these issues, and a Saul Alinski mentality about how to bring about political change. The vast middle of the electorate believed him, hoped in him, and loved him into the White House. Since there, he seems to have taken moderate, or at least realist, positions on most issues. But are his paybacks to the extreme left, such as the end of the Mexico City Policy and the expected reversal of the conscience rule that protects health care workers, merely political ploys or the tip of his own extreme agenda? Only time will tell, of course, but after only a month, government policy has already taken some extreme left turns.

Pope St. Hilary, pray for us.

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