Michael Klonsky

My father-in-law, a Marxist trade unionist and former Trotskyite candidate for the French Parliament, called me up last night at 2 a.m. to congratulate me on Obama being elected.   He told me how proud he was for America.  Since he doesn’t speak fluent English, and I don’t speak fluent French, I’m not quite sure why he was proud.

I don’t think it’s because he thinks Obama is a Marxist.  (I doubt he knows that Obama gave money to Marxist activists like the Maoist Michael Klonsky while sitting on the board of the Annenberg Challenge along with former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers, a self-described “communist,” thus using charity money intended for education for ideological causes instead).

Instead, I think it’s because America elected a black man to high office.  Europeans have such a strong misconception that America is more racist than Europe that they are dumbfounded that America would elect a black person.

Ironically, racism and antisemitism are much more pervasive in Europe than in the U.S.  My brother-in-law, who is partly of Sephardic Jewish ancestry, and who physically resembles Osama Bin Laden, is routinely stopped by the French police for “driving while Arab.”  And my wife has repeatedly been exposed to antisemitic remarks by French co-workers who are unaware that she is of Jewish ancestry.

[click to continue…]