Inside the Beltway

INNARD CIRCLE

President Obama drew much support from Jewish voters, but he’s still struggling with the “kishkes test,” says Nathan J. Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, made up of 1,000 member synagogues.

Mr. Obama has delivered heartfelt speeches about Israel but has yet to articulate his policies toward the nation — risking loss of support from Israelis and their backers, Mr. Diament explains.

But the kishkes. Quick, David Axelrod, write the word down for some future strategy. Those clueless about Yiddish be aware that “kishkes” means, well, one’s innermost parts.

“It’s that folks need to know that Obama ‘gets it’ in his gut,” Mr. Diament tells Inside the Beltway

“Israelis live in a very ‘dangerous neighborhood,’ and they’ve, just in recent years, made significant sacrifices for peace - for example, withdrawn from Gaza - and gotten rockets and terror in return. The Arabs continue to threaten terror and refuse to acknowledge Israel’s legitimacy,” Mr. Diament continues.

“If President Obama wants them to again take actions for the sake of a hoped-for peace, Israelis need to believe that Mr. Obama believes in Israel’s legitimacy and is fundamentally committed to Israel’s security. And Israelis will assess this based on Mr. Obama’s actions more than his words.”

MAHMOUD MOOD

Well, that’s that. Instant credibility. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs referred to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the “elected leader” of Iran on Tuesday.

That is not how former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sees the situation.

“Iran is now a hollow shell. If we don’t do anything to prop it up - just like the Soviet Union was a hollow shell - it too will collapse. I don’t know if it will be next year, or five years from now. But the Iranian regime, I believe, is done,” Miss Rice said during a recent appearance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

At least the White House, along with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, will not send flowers, a balloon bouquet or maybe a Whitman’s Sampler to Mr. Ahmadinejad before his inauguration on Wednesday.

“I don’t have any reason to believe that we will send any letter,” Mr. Gibbs said.

POLL DU JOUR

33 percent of Americans say Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley acted “stupidly” during his arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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