Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage*

By Baxter

Election Night 2008 was memorable for a lot of reasons, but for us cats, one that's stayed uppermost in our minds was the relief and joy felt by our non-American friends. A Canadian, for example, sent us an email saying she was so happy that night, she "cried like a baby."

We didn't ask her why she was happy because we knew. It wasn't just that she admired Barack Obama and understood what a milestone the nation's first African-American President would be. It's because after eight years of shaking her head and grinding her teeth, she wanted to feel good about America again.

See, although the teabaggers would probably try to tell you different, most of the rest of the world really does like and admire the United States. Okay, not the ISIL guys, or Jeb! Bush's friends the "Beaucoup" Haram. And we're probably not the first name on Vladimir Putin's christening invitation list. We could name others. What we mean is that for the billions of reasonable folks across the globe, it's painful when America does stupid things. This never fails to happen when people like The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived get into the White House.

During the Bush-Cheney years, our allies were appalled and alarmed — at the Iraq war, the torture, the fiscal recklessness, and the abandonment of the climate to oil producers and polluters, just to name a few. (A more complete list is here.) And it was awkward for them. When a good country has a bad leader, citizens outside that good country, who like that good country, are chagrined. And they feel so much better when the bad leader goes away.

This is how we cats feel about Israel these days. And after this week's election, it's even worse. Benjamin Nutty You Who's "Southern Strategy" win was wildly depressing, for all the reasons we've mentioned.

But if there's one consolation, we're not alone. Check out this quote from Rabbi Misha Zinkow of Temple Israel, Columbus, Ohio: "The scare tactics that emerged in the 11th hour of the [Israeli] election appealed to very deep anxiety and fear...Those statements appealed to emotions that young American Jews just don’t have, and they sound racist." (Note to the Rabbi: They sound racist because they are.)

Said Rabbi Richard Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism: "Having Israel so isolated and marginalized in so many places is profoundly troubling."

So, good: There will be consequences for Nutty You Who and his slobbering GOP fan club. But will that be good for Israel? We cats fear not. Which means we can't wait till Nutty You Who and Likud go down in defeat to Bougie Herzog or whomever, and we can cry like babies (or kittens) ourselves. In the meantime, we HISS.

(*Okay, our headline is actually the title of an Alice Munro book. But it keeps bouncing around our furry little heads whenever we get on this topic. Sorry, Alice!)