I’m sure there’s a reason. If I think about it long enough, perhaps it’ll come to me.
It’s probably something right in front of my eyes…
I don’t know…when we celebrated Bomadon a decade or so back it seemed pretty festive and well received.
What amazes me is that we have two equally ridiculous threads about this.
naaaahhhh, that would be christmas eve. christmas is the 7th.
i bet obama celebrates christmas 13 days early as well!!
Yeah this one seals it for me. Obama is definitely going down next election. Count on the GOP to continually bring this one up in all their ads and in the debates.
I’m really thankful for this topic being brought up. And to think I almost voted for the bastard again…
It was probably a topic on some conservative talk show this week.
Damn, that’s even more messed up.
just wait 'till it slides another a day sometime this century and goes to jan. 8th!
Somehow or another, Daylight Savings Time is involved in the kerfuffle.
<insert old man smilie shouting ‘Mark my words!’>
nm. I was whooshed.
Why is he celebrating Hannukah in the first place? Why are Jews expecting a Christian to join in their celebration?
I’m surprised the anti-multi-culturalists haven’t used this as an example of PC-ness run amok.
Back when I considered myself Jewish, I would have seen this as:
- He’s too busy to celebrate the holiday when he’s supposed to.
- He’s too busy to celebrate the holiday the WAY he’s supposed to. You don’t light the candles all at once. They specifically symbolize that the oil lasted eight days…that’s why you do them over eight days.
I’m actually mildly insulted by his attempt to “squeeze in” the holiday. It’s not his holiday…don’t try to fake it.
There are plenty of Christians who complain if there isn’t a Christmas tree in certain public places…why wouldn’t we expect Jews to complain about this?
-D/a
If the president were Jewish, I wouldn’t expect him to celebrate Christmas or even pay lip service to it. And I’d consider anyone who would expect otherwise to be a profound idiot.
Someone can be respectful of someone else’s traditions without trying to create the image that they are theirs as well. Holidays are supposed to mean something special to those who believe or practice. I rolled my eyes when he did the Passover seder thing as well. Attend one that you’ve been invited to? Sure, go ahead. But don’t throw one yourself and then the following Sunday go to Easter service. I’ve heard of being ecumenical, but that’s a little ridiculous to me.
Of course, IMHO.
The photo in the article made me smile - they’re celebrating Hanukkah in front of Christmas trees.
He’s not Jewish? What’s the point? Jews are 2 per cent of America - why have a Jewish holiday festival at the White House (while making sure to drive home your dedication to the Jewish homeland*)?
*Which is entirely optional as most of us are firmly planted in the US of A.
He had Ramadan at the White House, too. No Kwanzaa, though. 
It is the victory of religious freedom and monotheism over paganism.
For example the king Antiochus had the temple defiled and set up an altar to Zeus there.
Funny you should mention that. In this case, it’s completely wrong.
The Jews were slaughtering each other right and left in an intense bid for the vacant office of high priest. A high priest of the Jews named Jason, appointed by Antiochus, purged Jersusalem. He murdered the supporters of his rival Menelaus, who also happened to be the priest’s own brother. Antiochus probably didn’t want to get deeply involved in Judea: he was in the middle of an invasion of Egypt (the Sixth Syrian War) and later had all his armies on the eastern frontier fighting off an existential threat from Persia. He cracked down on Jerusalem because the Jews were ungovernable and were killing each other in the streets. That’s when Antiochus lost his patience in 167 and effectively suppressed the Jews.
Three years later, yet another rival for the priesthood, Mattathias, started slaughtering Jews in his own bid for power.
This isn’t revisionist history or anything: you can read it all in Maccabees I and II or even in Josephus. When a Jew was willing to sacrifice in the imperial rites, Mattathias killed him on the spot. The Jews didn’t get along with each other any better than any other ethnic group in antiquity.