But Was it Politically Kosher?
Allow me to pose some crass political questions:
Barack Obama received approximately 78% of the Jewish-American vote in the 2008 presidential election (better than John Kerry's 75% in 2004, but not as good as Al Gore's 82% in 2000).
Q: Gazing into the campaign crystal ball, will today's much-hyped (over-hyped?) Middle East speech cost the President with that core Democratic constituency come November 2012? A little? A lot? None at all?
Q: If you're advising a Republican presidential hopeful, what openings did today's remarks provide? Time for a direct appeal to Christian conservatives, for example, on the potential giving-away of Jerusalem landmarks? Talk to Tea Partiers about foreign aid and Egyptian debt-forgiveness?
Q: If you're the President's political team and notice some bleeding -- less support, fewer campaign dollars pouring in, and the distinct poosibility of Bibi tearing you a new one when he visits Washington -- how do you correct course?
A: (To all) stay tuned. And keep an eye on voters in Dade and Broward Counties and donors on the west side of Los Angeles.
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May '10
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
After reading Normal Podhoretz's Why Are Jews Liberals?, I don't think Obama's position will have a significant effect on his ability to get votes from Jews in the future.
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
1. Not much, if at all. The American Democratic Jewish constituency is largely confused and embarrassed by Israel and feels uncomfortable coming to its defense. Many of them are much more comfortable with an anti-Israel president than they are with a pro-Israel president, in part because of the perception that to be pro-Israel means one must be religious to some extent, and many of them are so strongly defined by their secularism that they find religious belief backward and reactionary.
I think Obama might even get a bump when the Jewish Democrats hear that Netanyahu has called the 1967 border indefensible and that right-wing Israeli politicians are calling Obama the new Arafat for endorsing the 1967 borders.
2. I absolutely would advise Republican hopefuls to appeal to Christian conservatives, and on several fronts: the protection of Israel (Obama was careful to play down Fatah's reconciliation with Hamas, which is profoundly threatening) and the protection of Christians in the Arab world. I read today that Christians in Syria are terrified what will happen to them once Assad falls -- he's no picnic, but anything can happen to them once the jailer's gone.
Jun '10
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
I get the impression that America's liberal Jews think "never again" means "we will never be conspicuously Jewish again." They're willing to be conspicuously socialist, but not Jewish.
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
3. Correct course by reining in the settlers/terrorists equivalence talk, and by acknowledging that demands about settlement construction in advance of negotiations are a precondition and therefore inappropriate. (This would be gracious, since it was Obama who put settlements back on the table as a precondition in the first place.) Reiterate in public that the Palestinians' threat to skip negotiations and unilaterally declare statehood at the UN is a hostile act, not only to Israel but to the US, and that the US will respond accordingly. It would be fitting (if highly unlikely) for the president to threaten to cut off the PA financially unless one of two things happens: either Hamas publicly renounces its jihadist charter and recognizes Israel in Arabic to its own constituency (spare us the NY Times editorials), or the PA cuts off ties with it. Barring either event, make plain to Netanyahu that you do not expect him to sit down again with Abbas for the time being, since to do so while Abbas's ally is still committed to Israel's destruction would be suicidal.
Dec '10
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
1] Though it may not have gotten that much play elsewhere, here in Florida there was a big push by young celebrities (Sarah Silverman comes to mind) to have young jews tell their parents/grandparents that they had to support Obama or visits may end. Perhaps in 2012, parents and grandparents will tell their little darlings that if they support that meshugeh they needed to park the BMW and pay their own rent.
Apr '11
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
American Jews don't decide their vote for president over Israel policy any more than African Americans decide their vote for president over African policy.
If the big fundraisers think Obama is going to win, they will raise money for him to continue to get access.
Mar '11
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
I think this hurts Obama with Jewish voters, and maybe enough to make the difference in Florida. Won't make any difference in the Northeast or Illinois or California. But losing Florida would be fine.
Dec '10
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
There is no dearth of Israel-shame among religious American Jews. Last week I heard Leon Wieseltier at an anti-Semitism symposium. His keynote speech was strong: anti-Semitism is a problem with anti-Semites, not Jews; it must be vigorously fought; we need practical threat assessments; etc.
His subsequent seminar felt different: being Jewish meant being religious & speaking Hebrew (leaving me out on both counts); contemporary Israeli policies had "written-off the world" & were an embarrassment. Were Israel destroyed, he offered, Jews would be shaken, but basically OK.
Many Jewish academics seem intent on building a Jewish identity based on history, culture or religion; on anything but the geopolitical grounds of every other people. It feels like an accommodation they've made with their leftist friends, colleagues & students in which they get to be proud, colorful Jews (religious or not) in exchange for accepting that reasonable people may think Israeli policies justify its pariah status.
Edited on May 22, 2011 at 10:10amRe: But Was it Politically Kosher?
This gave me chills. What about the 6 million Jews who live here? Does he feel that divorced from us?
Dec '10
Re: But Was it Politically Kosher?
Judith Levy
This gave me chills. What about the 6 million Jews who live here? Does he feel that divorced from us?
He is now a family man with a young son, late returned to the religious orthodoxy of his youth. I guess he's got to pay something to retain credibility with his New Republic friends, and I guess you're it.
I should say that Wieseltier was surprisingly unfamiliar with pro-Israel scholars like Daniel Pipes, and that his public lecture was strongly pro-Israel. It was as though he was deeply uncomfortable with, or hadn't assimilated, an Israel-optional position he felt forced into.
I got the same sense a few weeks earlier from David Biale (UC Davis): when discussion strayed towards Israeli government policies, he mumbled a few disdainful words and changed the topic.
I was surprised, in both cases, that I could go to a Jewish Community Center for support against anti-Semitism, and feel isolated. It feels very Jewish for me to be a "majority of one", although, practically, that helps not at all.
Edited on May 24, 2011 at 8:45am