There was no competition in picking 2008’s big winner. President-elect Barack Obama tops nearly every list with his historic election.
He may have run a no-drama campaign, but his victory was dramatic and inspirational. And despite a persistent smear campaign against him, he was a big winner with Jewish voters, garnering some 78 percent of their votes.
In the loser category, there’s a tie for first place between Obama’s predecessor and his opponent.
Even most Republicans ran hard against President George W. Bush this year, and historians already judge his administration one of the worst ever.
John McCain declared himself the Un-Bush, but that didn’t help in a year when voters wanted change and not a candidate telling them the crashing economy was “fundamentally sound.”
Israel was also a winner in the American election and in the Middle East. Both Obama and McCain — and most Congressional candidates — worked hard to portray themselves as Israel’s best friends.
Candidates unfriendly toward Israel — Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney and others — were at the bottom of the heap.
Behind the cacophony of criticism of Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza, many Arab leaders are privately rooting for the Zionists.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority would like to see Hamas wiped out but will settle for a drubbing that will weaken the Islamic terror group’s hold on Gaza and the influence of its Iranian patron in the region.
Israel demonstrated that it learned the lessons of the Lebanon war and this time planned carefully, set clear and limited goals, and executed its plan with surprise and precision. It’s too early to judge the outcome.
It was a year that seemed to have a lot more losers than winners. Here is a sampling:
• Loser — The Republican Jewish Coalition spearheaded a multi-million-dollar fear and smear campaign to paint Obama as a Muslim Manchurian candidate and a danger to Israel. It backfired and kept Jews solidly in the Democratic camp.
• Loser — All invested in the stock market. It was a bad year for the economy and worse for all Jewish organizations and contributors who invested with Bernie “the Goniff” Madoff.
• Winner — Hezbollah, the Islamic terror group, took virtual control of the Lebanese government and has rebuilt its arsenal and forces since the war with Israel.
• Loser — The once-influential neoconservatives have turned from making wars to rewriting history, joining Bush in confidently predicting that history will vindicate them.
• Winner — The U.S. Constitution and civil liberties, now that Vice President Dick Cheney is retiring. Cheney was willing to shred both in the name of fighting terrorism, still thinks torture is a good idea and that waterboarding is a harmless dunking. Generations of American soldiers who face a greater risk of being tortured themselves will remember his name with revulsion.
• Losers — Jewish organizations like Chabad, the Weisenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Greater Washington Jewish Federation that sent out fundraising appeals following the Mumbai attacks in an effort to make some bucks on the tragedy.
• Winner — Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the lone Republican Jew in the House of Representatives, was elected to the Number Two leadership post and in line to become the first Jewish Speaker in a Republican-led Congress. Also winning: the largest-ever Jewish Congressional contingent, 13 Senators and 30 Representatives.
• Losers — A growing list of politicians proved once again the worst wounds are self-inflicted. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s ethical lapses have cost him the best job he ever had. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) who accused her opponent of being “godless” because she got support from proponents of church-state separation.
Elliot Spitzer, once spoken of as possibly the first Jewish president, and John Edwards, both done in by zipper problems.
Shakedown artist and Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich; pork king and convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Ark.); Rep. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson (D-La.), and Chip Saltsman, the Tennessee GOP chair who lobbied to lead the Republican National Committee by sending out a CD including a song entitled “Barack the Magic Negro.”
• Loser — The U.N. Security Council, which after virtually ignoring the thousands of missiles and mortars Hamas and its friends fired at Israeli towns over the past several years, is suddenly infuriated by Israel’s attempts to stop the assault.
• Winner and Loser — Some folks fit both categories. Hillary Clinton was supposed to be a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination but wound up with a very nice consolation prize at the State Department.
Sen. Joe Lieberman squandered his reputation and stature among Jews in his anti-Obama (compared to pro-McCain) campaign, but retained his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin proved she wasn’t ready for prime time when McCain tapped her, but she has become a household name, the biggest draw on the GOP speaking circuit, a potential Senate candidate in 2010 and a presidential candidate after that.
• Winner — Comedian Tina Fey’s impersonation of Palin was a masterpiece. You betcha.
Douglas M. Bloomfield is a Washington, D.C.-based syndicated columnist and a former chief lobbyist for AIPAC.
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