Obama makes connection with Israeli family in Sderot
Barack Obama stood amid the debris in Pinhas Amar's kitchen, an arm around his host. The Orthodox religious scribe recalled matter-of-factly how a rocket had crashed through the ceiling. Then Amar blessed the Democratic candidate, praying for his success.
"He smiled and said, if he did become president, I would be among his first guests in the White House," Amar said later, describing the scene. "I said, 'Don't forget me,' and indeed I believe he will not."
It was an unusual moment in a presidential campaign being waged in part beyond America's borders, a race the Amar household has witnessed more intimately than perhaps any family outside the U.S.
The Amars gave John McCain, the all-but-certain Republican nominee, the same tour of their damaged home in March. On Wednesday it was his rival's turn, as Obama visited Israel to show voters that he too cares about the security of the Jewish state.
Israel's defense minister had chosen the Moroccan Jewish couple and their children as a poster family for this battered desert town. He escorted each of the rival candidates to the Amars' yellow stone house on Sinai Street to emphasize the threat from Palestinian rockets from the nearby Gaza Strip.
Pinhas and Aliza Amar treated both senators like royalty and said they felt the Americans' empathy during the brief visits. Their discussions did not touch on politics or the choices Israel and the U.S. face in confronting Islamic militants in the Middle East.
But like Israelis debating anything important, they came to differing conclusions about the two men.
Pinhas, a thoughtful 48-year-old with graying hair, said he was taken by Obama, more a feeling than anything else.
"Obama has this personal charm, and it looks like it's going to get him elected," he said. "McCain too is a very impressive man, a man with a special story . . . and that gives him stature.
"But Obama seems to come across better," he said. "He has a charismatic presence. . . . McCain was a bit more distant."
Aliza Amar, 40, an energetic, round-faced woman in a pale pink head scarf and chic gold-framed eyeglasses, reserved her judgment. Since meeting McCain, she has followed his speeches. "He hasn't forgotten Israel," she said. "He always sounds quite determined and adamant in his opinion that [Israel] is an important issue."
As for Obama, "I know that he too supports Israel." The question for whoever gets elected, she concluded, is "whether their actions support their words."
