Reassuring Israel

And if he weren't busy enough, Obama got some reading recommendations. As he sat down with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president waxed on about a book he'd just finished. It was hardly an airport novel. Peres was deeply impressed by the collection of letters between Harold Laski and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Laski was a 23-year-old British socialist at the time of his correspondence with the 75-year-old Supreme Court justice.

 Peres raved about the collected letters as some of the best literature he'd ever read in his life, and offered to give Obama his own copy. "Well you keep your copy," Obama demurred. "I'll get it on Amazon.com." It wasn't clear that Peres, who is 84 years old, had ever purchased a book online. But that didn't deter the Israeli president. "You'll enjoy it ... They were highly intelligent and wise. But also here is a young Jewish boy from London, Harold Laski. Oliver Wendell Holmes is a stranger … One is a socialist, the other is a capitalist. They didn't agree about everything, but finally at the end of the story, Oliver Holmes starts to become socialist. We have to take care of civilization of humankind, which is the deeper meaning of socialism."

"I'll make a point of picking that up," Obama said, smiling patiently.

© 2008