Senator Marco Rubio visiting Israel
Senator Marco Rubio  visiting Israel
Senator Marco Rubio
visiting Israel
Larry and Esta Gordon at a New York fundraiser for Senator Ted Cruz
Larry and Esta Gordon at a New York fundraiser for Senator Ted Cruz
Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka
Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka
Governor Chris Christie
Governor Chris Christie

Bagel - Real Eyes - IMG_2900By Larry Gordon

The United States needs a makeover. Not only do we have to try to forget about the Obama years as soon as they end, we have to make sure that they are effectively concluded and terminated.

We are in the midst of a race to the White House and an electoral frenzy that seems to have had no beginning–and we can only hope that someday this will end. There will be an election in November 2016, but the media is having so much fun with this, it just might be that they do not want us to get there and prefer that this go on endlessly.

We are experiencing a perpetual presidential campaign that is gaining an increasing resemblance to a made-for-TV reality show rather than the fashion in which the greatest country in the world chooses its leader. And the candidates, or rather the players, are performing their roles to perfection.

So after putting off examining the nature of the competition as it stands, today it’s time to take the plunge and try to begin sorting things out as the primary process gets under way. This is who I like so far, and in the order that I like them: Rubio, Cruz, and Trump. This can change at some point, as we are still quite a distance away from any clarification about who the nominee will be.

Even when they had 15 people up there on stage at the beginning of the debating process last summer, I took note from the outset that this was quite an assemblage of talent, which, if not for the overzealous ambition and desire for power, could get themselves together and be of great and important service to the future of this country.

Some of the remarkable talents are people for whom, as far as the presidency is concerned, it is just not their time. That would include Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Ben Carson amongst those who are still somewhat in the running but are producing poor numbers to date.

Frankly, until the last debate Saturday night, I liked Chris Christie. I thought he had directness and an intelligent toughness that the country could use. But I found it distasteful and unproductive for him to display his combination prosecutorial and big-bully tactics in trying to cut down Marco Rubio. At this stage of the game, Christie simply does not come across as presidential material. I can see him being useful as an attorney general or even an ambassador to the UN, but I do not see the White House for him in the cards.

Why he does not realize it is a bit beyond comprehension. It was silly for Christie to try to give Rubio a rhetorical bloody nose because several times he reiterated that Barack Obama is not incompetent, but rather knows what he is doing and wants to downgrade and contain America rather than ISIS–something that needed to be said–more than once.

Christie’s resorting to those little prosecutor tricks and comments makes an initial eye-opening and interesting impression, but then when it sinks in you quickly realize how unhelpful and unnecessary those tactics are when everyone here is supposed to be on the same side.

I must have heard Christie say at least 100 times that since a governor has chief executive experience on the state level that is in and of itself preparation to govern the country. The New Jersey governor has stated repeatedly that a senator has no managerial experience while a governor is being trained on the job. But that is disingenuous at its core when you consider that the worst president in our history before Barack Obama was Jimmy Carter who, prior to being elected president, was governor of Georgia.

Let’s take a look at the candidates from the perspective of Jewish life and Israel for a moment. Donald Trump–despite all the bluster–is basically an inarticulate spokesperson of the sentiments of the common man. That means that he ends up saying things that he has to retract, but because of his boorishness will never do that. For example, when addressing a Republican Jewish group a few weeks ago, he looked around and said that he was certain that there were a lot of dealmakers in the room. Was that ever a piece of profiling and stereotyping!

He then said that he knows that many in the room want to support his candidacy by giving him money and that they are accustomed to doing that as a way of currying favor with politicians, but that he does not need and would not be taking their money.

From the perspective of Jewish life, there is Donald’s daughter–Ivanka Trump Kushner–who converted to Judaism (Orthodox) prior to marrying Jared Kushner of the renowned real-estate family of New Jersey. Ivanka has distinguished herself as a capable real-estate executive, and now at 34 years old is expecting their third child. Trump has made occasional references to his “Jewish daughter,” and if he is successful in his pursuit of the nomination and then the election in November, we can look for her to be playing a prominent role in her father’s administration on some level.

So far, during the many debates, there has been minimal mention of Israel. Certainly as candidates present themselves on matters of the economy and homeland security, there may not be a great deal of room to dwell on U.S. relations with any particular country. That issue can be left for a president once he is elected. However, Senators Cruz and Rubio both found it important enough to insert a reference to Israel.

Israel is being brutalized in the international arena. And despite good relations on the military and intelligence level (which President Obama cannot change), there is a severe strain between Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It’s been a long and difficult seven years on that count. Strained relations with Israel are the opposite of America’s best interest, especially in the war-torn and continually deteriorating Middle East. I believe that all the Republican candidates are aware of that and that will change drastically with any incoming new administration in Washington.

Senator Rubio referenced in his remarks the other night the betrayal of Israel by President Obama. And Senator Cruz has gone so far as declaring that his administration would move forthrightly to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. The others have been mostly silent as they are focused to a great extent on bickering with one another.

Sandwiched between Cruz and Rubio is Mr. Trump, who continues to lead in many polls despite the fact that he demonstrates an extremely minimal amount of knowledge on most issues. Yes, he wants to expel 11 million illegals from the country, build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, and stop the movement of Muslims into the U.S. The wall is the best of the ideas, with the others just campaign talk. After the Iowa caucuses, while all three spoke about the caucus/primary, the senators spoke at length and in depth about their political visions of the future. All Trump would say in ten minutes of comments is that he “loves Iowa and Iowa loves him.” And this week he was saying the same thing about New Hampshire. So what if he loves them and they love him?

The Trump appeal, as he states it, is making America great again. And while that’s important, that is exactly what all the Republican candidates want to do as well.

The most important issue here is who can beat Hillary Clinton in November? It is unaddressed and astounding that this is the best the Democratic Party can do–Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. I suppose that the Democratic establishment in this country feels that it is Hillary or bust. For the better good of the country, we need a bust.

But there are good things about Hillary Clinton too. Foremost amongst those good things is her insincerity about almost everything she says. She talks about continuing the Obama policies, but she is smart and savvy enough to know that they are for the most part a collection of disasters. She wants the vote of the Obama fan base so she talks the talk. Sure, she is a hopeless liberal but not as hopeless as she portrays herself to be. In brief, there is nothing real about her. She reminds me of some graffiti I saw on the side of a building in Tel-Aviv a few weeks ago. It read, “Real eyes, realize, real lies.” That is the sum total of who she is.

There is obviously a great deal to say about all of the candidates. America is at a pivotal transitional time and I believe that four more years of the Democrats can do irreparable damage.

After what will be eight years of Mr. Obama’s regressive progressiveness, the country needs something extreme in the other direction to right itself. Cruz, Rubio, and even Trump fit the bill–not just for change that we can believe in, but change that we desperately need.

Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.

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