Jewish politics

Okay, my secret is out: I'm retiring after 24 years on this beat for the Jewish Week (please hold your applause and your decaying vegetables). It seems like the right time to reflect on the changes I've seen in the Jewish world and Jewish politics during that period.

Many of the activists I met way back in the day are still toiling in Washington, and some of the issues that preoccupied them more than two decades ago are still in play, while others are long forgotten. How many remember the Lautenberg Amendment? In 1987, it was on the lips of most Jewish leaders.

As more Democrats call on Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to step down in the wake of his admission of lewd Twitter behavior – and the fact that he lied about it for so long – I keep wondering if there's a double standard at work here.

After all, other members of Congress have been caught in worse sex scandals without putting their jobs in jeopardy or getting pounded on by members of their own party.

Until now I've refrained from blogging about the Twitter troubles of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), mostly because it was so unclear to me whether the charges that he distributed suggestive photos of himself through the social networking site were accurate or just another Internet-driven political hit job.