In their continuing attempts to distort Senator Barack Obama's strong pro-Israel record, the Republican National Committee (RNC) insisted that Obama has an anti-Israel approach to Jerusalem. They could not be further from the truth. Not only is the RNC attack inaccurate, but it is the height of hypocrisy. In reality, Obama's position on Jerusalem is in line with the bipartisan consensus among United States leaders and consistent with the position of Senator John McCain.
According to McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, McCain says that we should not "second-guess" the Israeli government when it comes to Israel and, "Senator McCain has said that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel…if a democratic government of Israel chooses to accept an alteration of that status, he's certainly not going to second-guess a democratic government of Israel," (NPR, July 15, 2008.)
A careful reading of Obama's remarks as quoted in the July 23, 2008 RNC release entitled, "RNC: Obama's Jewish Divide" reveals there was "no shift in policy or backtracking in policy."
If you look at what happened, there was no shift in policy or backtracking in policy. We just had phrased it poorly in the speech. That has happened and will happen to every politician. You're not always gonna hit your mark in terms of how you phrase your policies. But my policy hasn't changed, and it's been very consistent. It's the same policy that Bill Clinton has put forward, and that says that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, that we shouldn't divide it by barbed wire, but that, ultimately that is a final status issue that has to be resolved between the Palestinians and the Israelis." (Obama, CBS News, 7/22/08)
Republicans should be embarrassed to make such blatantly misleading and hypocritical statements. Yet, when it comes to Obama, Israel, and the Jewish community, it is clear that McCain's allies have reaffirmed they are completely shameless in their smearing of Obama.
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