A few months ago I wrote a column imploring Anthony Wiener not to resign his office. Many short-sighted democrats took umbrage; some of these very Dems were vociferously defending Bill Clinton during “Monicagate” without seeing the contradiction now. Back then I was a lonely voice saying Clinton should step down from the presidency since it was the decent thing to do. So I found it somewhat strange (in fact absurd) for the same people to be calling for Tony Wiener’s head, when what he did doesn’t even come close to what Clinton did in the White House: relative to moral dimensions when comparing indiscretions.
To me, consistency is important in politics. Hypocrisy should always be condemned. To me, maintaining the moral high ground is something we should strive for everyday; and in this regard both Dems and Republicans often fail. I will say it again: morality must be consistent not just convenient.
Anthony Wiener may have broken his wife’s heart but he broke no discernible laws. The worst that would have happened was Dems temporarily losing an articulate spokesperson countering Republican propaganda, misinformation, duplicity, deceit, and sometimes outright lies: so what? We could have then sent up Michael Eric Dyson or Michelle Harris-Perry to the public podium. Either one of them could consistently articulate the Dems positions just as good as, or in some instances much better than, even Tony could.
In the end, Wiener was essentially forced to resign by the bone-headed leaders of the national democrats. And in the special election to replace Wiener in Congress, a republican won a seat that Dems more or less controlled since 1922.
Those of us who crunch numbers after elections posted a red flag behind Tony’s results last November. They were the lowest (percentage-wise) of any returning democrat in the city’s congressional delegation. There were many reasons for this. Howard “Gatemouth” Graubard has explored them at length: in many of his superb columns dealing with this special election on www.r8ny.com (Room Eight New York Politics). You should pull up those columns if you want to get deeper into this.
The voting behavior of many Jews in this special election reminds me of a train trip I took in 1978. I was travelling with a friend on our way to a chess tournament in another state. We encountered a young USA-born Caucasian woman who identified herself as being Jewish. After a lengthy conversation covering varied topics, my friend (Ronald) asked her to state who she would fight for, were there to be a war between the USA and Israel. The young lady immediately retorted: Israel. There was no pause. There was no flinching. Apparently, it wasn’t up for discussion in her mind. I will never forget this event; nor will I forget the implications of that answer.
Thirty-three years later I am reminded of this young woman when Ed Koch -the former mayor of NYC- aggressively told Jews in the 9th congressional district, to send Barack Obama a strong message; given the way they perceive he has treated Israel’s PM (Netanyahu). Now, less than one month later, Koch flips and says he is supporting Obama’s re-election. His mischief making -and endorsement for the eventual winner/ Republican-Conservative Turner- has enabled Republicans one more vote in the House of Representatives, to further advance their reactionary political agenda.
Republicans will try everything to hold on to this seat in next year’s redistricting shuffle: watch and see. Democrats will have a good shot at regaining it next year, but in fourteen months lots of damage can be done in the HOR. Ed Koch should be ashamed of himself: maybe senility has set in. If so, he should get off the political stage; or be forced off.
Stay tuned-in folks.