Re “Shifren Gives the Performance of His Life. His Invisible Opponent Makes Charges.”
[img]899|left|Curren Price||no_popup[/img]The gulf between the philosophies of state Sen. Curren D. Price Jr. (D-Culver City) and his Republican rival, Rabbi Nachum Shifren, is the breadth of the Gulf of Mexico, making their Onesided Debate Sunday afternoon in Leimert Park the more difficult to evaluate.
[img]900|left|Rabbi Nachum Shifren ||no_popup[/img]Rabbi Shifren was brilliant, probably never has been better. Would he have been as muscular and impressive if his debate opponent had shown up at the Lucy Florence Cultural Center? That is a rocky call.
In Southern California, rabbis — especially members of the Orthodox rabbinate — rarely run for office, providing him with a sui generis sheen that could be advantageous.
He spoke, flowingly, for 30 minutes without a note — much less a teleprompter — in view before taking questions, all of which he parried to the satisfaction of an admiring audience.
Reliably conservative, Rabbi Shfiren pledged to devote considerable energy to what he called the deplorable state of public schools. “I am a 22-year teaching veteran of L.A. City schools. I have just about reached the breaking point with the corruption, the waste and the fraud,” he said. “Every teacher I have talked to says the same thing: ‘Lack of accountability, no responsibility and waste.’
Hitting hard at one of the most talked about subjects in black neighborhoods, the rabbi zeroed in. Studying the faces of his audience, row by row, the rabbi said: “Let’s talk about jobs. This community is being devastated by a 40 percent unemployment rate. Underemployment as well as unemployment. An absolute tragedy.”
Employing a traditional tactic in this 50 percent setting, Rabbi Shifren, standing on a slightly elevated stage in a cozy, curtained room filled to its capacity of about 30, shrewdly addressed his remarks to his opponent as if he really were there.
He Was Not Finished
Further, in what may have been thumb-in-your-eye strategy, he insisted on referring to his rival as “Mr. Price” instead of acknowledging his title.
“From what I can tell after talking to folks in the neighborhood, and from all across the United States, everybody wants the incumbents out,” Rabbi Shifren said. “If I were to be elected your state senator, I would do a lot less damage to you in Sacramento than my opponent. I will have less impact on your taxes, too.”
Without anyone present to rebut claims for his own campaign and assertions about Sen. Price, the rabbi was able to cleanly flex his rhetorical muscles while scolding Sen. Price for being unswervingly loyal to labor unions.
Rabbi Shifren starts his speeches at 60 miles an hour, and then builds momentum.
Sharpening His Criticism
With unemployment in the district and state in the stratosphere — at least in part because of runaway alien residents, taxes at record levels, illegal border crossings insufficiently controlled and schools in steep decline, Rabbi Shifren said, “the best response that Mr. Price can offer us is digital license plates!” And the crowd laughed. “That is how Mr. Price would cope with our serious problems? I thought we were supposed to watch the road, not be putting pictures of our girlfriends or my campaign on the plates. The L.A. Times, not exactly a right-wing newspaper, denounced your plan.”
Bouncing from subject to subject, pausing long enough to draw back what he regarded as an embarrassing curtain on Sen. Price’s record, Rabbi Shifren reared back and unloaded one more haymaker, the alleged corruption of labor unions and the politicians who routinely ally with them.
“Mr. Price, you and your liberal leftist cabal have destroyed the financial foundation of our state. You are going to do everything you can think of to distract the public. You and your friends have catered, have kowtowed, to the absolute thuggery of unions that has destroyed our economy.
“You want to try and help us out with digital license plates? I am sorry. Not going to work. We won’t buy that.”
Looking down the table to his invisible opponent, Rabbi Shifren shifted to a question he has been swinging around his head since early in the year.
“Mr. Price,” he said, “that reminds me. Four months ago I asked you ‘when was the last time you did not vote to raise our taxes?’ Do you remember your answer, Mr. Price? It was ‘Rabbi, I will have to get back to you on that.’ Several months later when I asked the question again, your answer was the same.”
What if Sen. Price had been there to defend himself?
The question lingered after the cheering for the decided underdog wafted out of the room, down the street and around the corner of the beautifully manicured neighborhood.
