Eli Lake, Columnist

Among the Shnooks and Machers at AIPAC

AIPAC's pecking order, decoded

March 2, 2015 at 7:57 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

If you were a big shot, you'd have a better view.
Photographer: Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

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There are many ways to understand the annual gathering in Washington of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). For some, it's evidence of a plot to undermine the national interest. For others, it's one of the great American rituals of political participation. But to really grasp how AIPAC's policy conference works, first familiarize yourself with the Yiddish word, "macher."

A macher is a big shot. He's a man with connections, a man who gets things done, a somebody in a world of wannabes. His opposite is the shnook, the guy who doesn't know how great the machers have it. The shnook is content with his unspecial treatment because he doesn't know any better. Most Americans want to be a macher and fear the prospect that they are just a shnook.