Obama--the Jewish angle

[Dilloduck]

"Understandably, because of the pressure that Israel is under, I think the US pro-Israel community is sometimes a little more protective or concerned about opening up that conversation," he continued. "All I'm saying, though, is that actually ultimately should be our goal - to have that same clear-eyed view about how we approach these issues."

He also again noted his disagreement with some of the critical statements on Israel made by the pastor of his church, which he ascribed to the latter's support for the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa at a time that Israel continued to trade with the regime there.

"He is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with," he said. "And I suspect there are some people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with, including, on occasion, directed at African Americans."

He concluded, "I understand the concerns and the sensitivities, and one of my goals constantly in my public career has been to try to bridge what was a historically powerful bond between the African American and Jewish communities that has been frayed in recent years."

Also on Sunday, Ralph Nader, while declaring his third-party candidacy for the US presidency, attacked Obama for allegedly concealing his "pro-Palestinian" feelings.

"He's run a brilliant tactical campaign, but his better instincts and his knowledge have been censored by himself," Nader charged on NBC's Meet the Press. "He was pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois before he ran for the state senate... Now he's supporting the Israeli destruction of the tiny section called Gaza with a million and a half people."

Nader called the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a "real off-the-table issue for the candidates," including Obama, whom he described as "the first liberal evangelist in a long time" to run for president.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1203847465591&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[Hugh Lincoln]

Why would Jews care about Israel? Why wouldn't their concern be America's safety and security?

Oh, wait.

[Kathianne]

Another perspective, six points altogether:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_03_02-2008_03_08.shtml#1204378160


N.Y. Times on Obama and the Jews:

The Times today has a story about Obama and the Jews. I have the following comments:

(1) The problems Obama is having with Democratic Jewish voters are exaggerated. Obama is doing about as well as one could expect while running against Hillary Clinton, a Senator from the state with the largest Jewish population in the country, and the wife of a former president who is extremely popular among Jews, and Jewish Democrats in particular. Much of the current handwringing over Jewish support from Obama comes from very liberal Jewish activists such as Josh Marshall and M.J. Rosenberg, who are infatuated with Obama, and can't understand why their fellow Jews aren't as well, given their belief that Obama, unlike Clinton, has the potential to lead the U.S. to a new era of Progressive liberal politics.

(2) The answer is that "Progressive" Jews tend to overestimate how liberal their ethnic cohort is. While Jews are much more liberal than the population as a whole, "self-described moderates and conservatives in the Jewish community outnumber self-described liberals by 57% to 42%", and those who identify themselves as "slightly liberal" outnumber "extremely liberal" 12% to 4%. And given that only about 15% of Jews are Republicans, even among Democrats and independents there are at least as many self-described moderates and conservatives as liberals. I'm sure that some of these "moderates" are actually reasonably liberal by mainstream standards, but when it comes to voting behavior self-description presumably often trumps detailed issues analysis, given voter ignorance.

(3) But why are many Jews suspicious of Obama? First, Jews (beyond the activist minority, which I suppose includes me) generally are inclined to prefer stability, as stable societies tend to be tolerant ones. And most Jews, like most Americans, never heard of Obama until recently, and many of his supporters seem to premise their support of him on the view that he will be destabilizing in some way ("change"). Not to mention that the last Democrat who came out of nowhere to become president promising change, Jimmy Carter, quickly became uniquely unpopular among Jews, failing to even get a majority of the Jewish vote in 1980.

....

[Dilloduck]

I'm sure Obama tried to comfort them with the behind doors meeting. Why would a candidate have a behind the doors meeting with Jewish groups ?