Ilhan Omar's jaw-dropping doublethink on dual allegiances

Somalia-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar has made more waves in two months than most members of Congress do in a lifetime. Indeed, were it not for the equally telegenic congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Omar would be the clear frontrunner for the Democrats' rookie of year honors. To her dubious credit, Omar has not only mastered English in her relatively short stay in this country, but mastered Valley Girl English. Her lilting syntax makes her frequent anti-Semitic tropes seem less barbed than intended.

To explain her concern about the "Benjamins" Jews are allegedly distributing to buy pro-Israeli policy, Omar told a small crowd at a D.C. bookstore, "I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country." The foreign country Omar had in mind, of course, was Israel. As shall be seen, however, the idea of a dual allegiance does not offend her. What offends Omar and others like her on the Left is an allegiance to, or any kind of affection for, Israel. In her book, dual allegiances are fine. Omar herself made the case for the phenomenon in a speech she gave during the 2016 election cycle to a group reportedly called the "Revolution Somali Youth League." Although the video of her speech has been seen fewer than 9,000 times, it is well produced and readily accessible on YouTube. The most intriguing part of the speech begins at about the 45-second mark. "In 2016, this election cycle, and you guys have the ability to make an impact on where our nation is headed, not only here in the United States but even in our nation back home. Right?" "Our nation back home?" Even the most ardent American Zionist would shy from language that conflicted. Omar continued, "You have to make sure you are preparing yourself and that you are gaining enough knowledge to be able to transfer some of that." Indeed, she makes America seem like little more than an academic refueling station. This may explain why she pushes forcefully in this speech for free college educations. George Orwell described "doublethink" as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." To Omar, though, these thoughts are not really contradictory. As she sees it, the most ruthless and oppressive force in the Middle East is simply not worthy of allegiance. To quote Orwell again, "[f]reedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four." Omar and her friends on the left have sacrificed that freedom. To regularly accuse the most enlightened country in the Middle East of being the most oppressive is to insist that two plus two equals five.