Just to let my readers know, I’m covering the J Street conference, starting tonight (indeed, I’m writing this from the opening plenary). I’ll be writing it up for Inter Press Service, and hopefully blogging some things afterward as well. I’ll also be live tweeting, so you can follow me on Twitter @MitchellPlit or on Facebook.
But I think it bears noting that J Street has no more guarantee of my objectivity, or that I’ll write a positive article about the conference, than AIPAC did (other than my own integrity). They had no problem letting me in, and good for them. It just serves as a further counterpoint: J Street has a lot more to worry about with negative press than AIPAC, yet somehow big, tough AIPAC was scared of little old me. Look here and see if you think their fear was justified.
Anyway, I’ll do everything I can to keep you posted on this conference. With Jeremy Ben-Ami having just heavily criticized the rock star of the group, Peter Beinart, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic, it’s not exactly off to a promising start. And the key Obama Administration speaker, Anthony Blinken, is a considerable step down from Dennis Ross last year, and even more so from Jim Jones, the National Security Adviser at the time, at their first conference. But we’ll see….