(American Interest) Walter Russell Mead - Presidential candidates stressing their pro-Israel positions are more likely to be chasing non-Jewish than Jewish votes. In American politics, taking a strong pro-Israel stand is a way of communicating your commitment to American exceptionalism and to American global leadership. From the time of Cotton Mather in 1690 right on up through 1948, there is a steady stream of American Christian theological writing that interprets the Bible as predicting the return of the Jews to the Promised Land. That the Bible predicted something that seemed so unlikely that then actually happened serves for many people as a powerful sign of God's continuing work in history. Large numbers of Americans think that Israel's most bitter enemies are also deadly enemies of the U.S. It sounds odd, but it is very true: Israel is as American as apple pie.
2012-07-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive