U.C. Berkeley professor George Lakoff doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to this year’s elections.
“McCain is a disaster for Israel and a disaster for Jews,” he said at a recent talk in San Rafael. “Obama’s values are Jewish values: empathy, communal, social and national responsibility, and an aspiration to have people do better. These are American values.”
Lakoff, a linguistics professor, shared his views in a discussion titled “Israel, Jews and the U.S. Election.” He was in conversation with Michael Krasny, host of KQED’s Forum and a professor of English at San Francisco State University. The talk took place Sept. 24, before an overflow crowd of around 500 people at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael.
The Lakoff-Krasny discussion was the inaugural event for the JCC’s Center for Jewish Life, which hopes to become the focal point for Jewish learning and literacy in the North Bay. The center will host a series of lectures, workshops, classes, and symposiums to celebrate Jewish culture and education. It has received grants from the Koret and Taube Foundations.
Part of Lakoff’s foreboding, he explained, is because he doesn’t trust McCain to continue the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
“[Tzipi] Livni, who will most likely be the next prime minister of Israel, would pursue the peace process. McCain won’t work with her,” said Lakoff, who was also promoting his latest book, “The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain.”
“There is a connection between McCain and Likud; they are ideological comrades,” so McCain cannot be expected to be an honest broker for peace with the Kadima party, he added.
On the issue of Iran and McCain’s perceived toughness, Lakoff said that “the issue of what it means to be tough is tricky. McCain has a POW mentality — he believes in force and the military, not in terms of diplomacy and human rights. I don’t believe Israel would bomb Iran’s nuclear arsenal because using nuclear weapons could kill millions in Asia and Russia and start a nuclear war.”
“Democracy by force won’t work,” Lakoff continued, pointing out what he called U.S. misadventures in the Middle East. “So Obama’s approach is to talk with Iran’s religious leaders and the people.”
Responding to one of Krasny’s initial questions, which noted that some Jews seem reluctant to support Obama, Lakoff was adamant that the Democratic candidate is a friend of the Jewish community.
“At least half of Obama’s top advisers are Jewish,” said Lakoff, who founded the Rockridge Institute, the nation’s first progressive think tank. “It’s hard to imagine Obama being anti-Semitic in any way. It just makes no sense.”
But he acknowledged that some in the Jewish community harbor negative feelings about Obama that go beyond objective, dispassionate reality.
“It is hard to convince some Jews that Obama is trustworthy,” he admitted. “There are some Jewish anti-black feelings. Some Jews fear that Obama is pro-Palestinian. There is a fear of black Muslims. But there is no factual basis to any of the fears.”
Krasny pointed out that Obama’s potential problems may involve hidden racism — and that even people who claim to support him might act differently in the voting booth. He noted that new cognitive studies show that “because some people who support Obama say one thing and vote differently, the differential in polling could be up to 6 percent,” which means Obama needs at least that much of a lead to cover the racism factor.
But Lakoff said he is encouraged by Obama’s recent performance and strident attacks on McCain. “The right has pounded the idea of the liberal elite into us for 40 years — the Hollywood Liberal, Latte Liberals, Limousine Liberals, Tax-and-Spend Liberals — and projected this onto Obama,” he said. “Obama has been reversing it to the conservative elite, talking about McCain’s 13 homes, for example.”
Both Lakoff and Krasny acknowledged that Obama needs to be more passionate and aggressive and must frame his facts in terms of values.
“I think the key for Democrats,” Krasny said, “is to get out young, idealistic voters, mobilize the black vote and go after the independents.”
Lakoff agreed: “A huge amount is at stake this November,” he said.