President Obama managed to charm the Israeli public in his visit to Israel, and reset his relationship with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But most important he managed to find his way to the heart of Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind. Just months ago, Hikind went on national TV to decry the Jewish community’s support of President Obama, telling Cavuto “the people of Israel are very concerned about Barack Obama getting reelected.” In January of 2012, Hikind was firm about his opposition to Obama’s reelection. “If I could just say, there’s no doubt in my mind that a lot of Israeli leaders are praying that Obama doesn’t get reelected,” he firmly stated at a press conference with Congressman Bob Turner.
Hikind, its important to note, was opposed to President Obama even before the President was elected to his first term.
This Saturday night, following Obama’s visit to Israel, Hikind was all praise of the President in his 2nd term. “Words mean a lot,” he said on his weekly radio show. “You could just see from the gestures.. everything was different this time. The President did a great job. He deserves credit. He said all the right things,” said Hikind.
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“You got to give him credit because this was all planned out way before his plane landed in Tel Aviv,” Mr. Hikind went on. “The President of the Unite States now can compete with John Liu in terms of Hebrew… The guy. literally, really prepared his Hebrew phrases to make people feel a lot better.”
“This is really – major change.. Barack Obama does not have to run for anything ever again. He didn’t have to prepare for the next election. It’s over. He can do or say anything. so what prompted him to do it? The Middle East of 2013 is a different Middle East than 4 years ago,” Hikind explained the change of the President’s attitude, in his view. “I think the president and his advisers clearly recognized that. That was a major piece of it.”
“My tone about Barack Obama right now:I judge things by what I see. It has nothing to do with politics,” Mr. Hikind asserted. “My loyalty is to our community. My loyalty is to America, not to a particular party. When Barack Obama is a problem I am going to speak about it. When Barack Obama does well, and he did very well in the Middle East just now, then we are going to say it.”
“So, on so many different level levels – settlement construction, the Jewish connection to Israel and Iran – he did very very well,” he added.
But here came the punchline: “I’d love to be surprised. I’d love to become an overnight fan of Barack Obama,” Mr. Hikind enthusiastically proclaimed.
“The President of the United States is not Prime Minister of Israel, Policies will not always be identical,” Hikind made sure to publicly agree with most of American Jewry’s view of President Obama.
“Only time will tell in terms of how real this is. But for now, Kudos to the President for a great job in the Middle East, Mr. Hikind concluded the show.