Obama's America

Power corrupts. Any form of power corrupts, even in an exemplary democracy.

In one fell swoop, President Barack Obama's administration has become embroiled in three scandals: it was caught lying on the Benghazi embassy attack; the Internal Revenue Service was found to be targeting right-wing groups critical of the president; and the Justice Department, it has been revealed, had effectively wiretapped journalists working for The Associated Press by seizing their phone records.

Israelis have always been told that corruption taints their country's legitimacy. This was the case when the Israel Tax Authority scandal broke out in 2007 (with the authority's director Jacky Matza and then Prime Minister's Office chief Shula Zaken as its main protagonists), or when rival journalists wiretapped each other in what turned out to be a national epidemic. This was also the case when our leaders tried to hide national security debacles from the public. As bad as this may sound, this is hardly a phenomenon that is unique to Israel. In the world we live in, dictatorships engage in such practices without ever even hinting at an apology. Similarly, in mediocre democracies, leaders cannot resist the urge to flout the rules by spying on their rivals.

You would think that Obama would not go down that path. He hails from a discriminated-against sector in American society, a minority. He is well versed on legal matters and the supremacy of the law, and he knows that he and his community owe much to the U.S. Constitution and the special rights it grants. Having such crises break out under Obama's watch comes as a most unwelcome development.

We can seek comfort in the fact that Israel is not the only country that has to deal with such challenges. The temptation to break the law is a disease every regime has. The war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness is waged continuously in every corner of the earth. It is a perpetual war. In this war's battles, the victors cannot afford to rest on their laurels, at least not for long, and the vanquished are never fully defeated.

"He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep," says the Bible (Psalms 121:4). This should apply to the Sons of Light. The Sons of Darkness will forever arise and return to the ring, like phoenixes. The war between the two camps never stops, although it may not always be in Hebrew. As it is a universal war, it can be waged in English, and all other languages.

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