Obama In Afghanistan-- Reconnecting With His Jewish Roots?

Did they take off their yarmulkas for the photo?

If you follow my travel blog, you've probably noted that in the past couple decades I travel a lot with my pal Roland. And, although he aggressively has no religion at all, he's always fascinated by going to see Jewish temples in places you might never expect to see them, like in Turkey, Singapore, Mexico and Myanmar. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and put on the TV, not something I've done in years. It was tuned to History International and the show that was in progress was about a search for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. It was fascinating, especially the parts about Jews in China, India and, of all places, Afghanistan. The Pathans-- which is the group that makes up the Taliban-- may be the descendants of the Lost Tribes.

Hopefully Roland isn't going to try dragging me to Ghazni, Herat and Kandihar any time soon. And the show didn't say anything about Timbuktu, our next planned destination. But this morning my pal David e-mailed me that among certain groups on the fringes of the far, far right (ie- dead center Republican Party), there is a rumor circulating that Obama is... a Jew! Funny, the first time I ever heard of Illinois' brash young state Senator, Barack O'Bama, I figured he was half Israeli and half Irish. David told me that 1% of Americans think Obama is Jewish. I don't think many of that 1% are Jews.

Today Obama is in Afghanistan meeting with Hamid Karzai, the Pathan president. They talked for two hours and there is no indication if they ever discussed their mutual heritage. Instead they talked about the so-called "war on terror." (And I imagine Karzai must have asked Obama to have the U.S. military stop slaughtering random Afghan civilians [Jews] after he becomes president.) They ate chicken and lamb-- not traif-- for lunch with two non-Jews, Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel and afterwards Obama told CBS that “We have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan. And I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front on our battle against terrorism." That's a big difference with McBush who thinks Afghanistan is a sideshow and not worth too much effort (no oil). McCain tried undercutting Obama's trip on his pathetic radio show yesterday but he just came off sounding like a sad old man angry that no one takes his crusty warmongering seriously.

Good morning. I'm John McCain, and this week, debate in the presidential campaign turned to the war in Afghanistan. My opponent, Senator Obama, announced his strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq before departing on a fact-finding mission that will include visits to both those countries. Apparently, he's confident enough that he won't find any facts that might change his opinion or alter his strategy. Remarkable.