Seeing Ripple in Jewish Vote

**Mluther** · 09-15-2011, 12:25 PM

Notable quotes in the attached article

From frizzy hair Debbie

Like other Democrats, Ms. Wasserman Schultz played down the broader implications of the upset in New York, arguing that the district’s Orthodox and Russian-Jewish population makes it more conservative than other Jewish areas. She pointed to polls showing that a majority of Jews still support Mr. Obama and that their level of approval for his performance largely tracks that of the broader electorate.[/QUOTE]

Debbie, you should not take your safe Florida district for granted.

From grumpy Eliot L. Engel

The nub of the problem, Mr. Engel said, is that Mr. Obama tends to blame Israel and the Palestinians equally for the impasse in the Middle East — an equivalence many Jewish voters find objectionable. He said this visceral reaction prevented Jews from giving the president credit for the positive aspects of his policy.[/QUOTE]

Eliot sooner or later, you too will be replaced.

From the one and only Chuckie Schumer

Prominent Democratic Jewish politicians disagree. “It is not a bellwether district,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. “I don’t think there’s another district like that in America.”[/QUOTE]

Charlie have you heard of Cherry Hill, Lakewood, Medford, … NJ Jewish enclaves?

And from NY Times Readers

semby
Hawthorne, NJ
• July 2009: Mr. Obama hosted American Jewish leaders at the White House, reportedly telling them that he sought to put "daylight" between America and Israel. "For eight years"—during the Bush administration—"there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished," he declared. Nothing? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon uprooted thousands of settlers from their homes in Gaza and the northern West Bank and deployed the Israeli army to forcibly relocate their fellow citizens. Mr. Sharon then resigned from the Likud Party to build a majority party based on a two-state consensus.

In the same meeting with Jewish leaders, Mr. Obama told the group that Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection." This statement stunned the Americans in attendance: Israeli society is many things, but lacking in self-reflection isn't one of them. It's impossible to envision the president delivering a similar lecture to Muslim leaders.

• September 2009: In his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Obama devoted five paragraphs to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during which he declared (to loud applause) that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He went on to draw a connection between rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with living conditions in Gaza. There was not a single unconditional criticism of Palestinian terrorism.
• March 2010: During Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Jerusalem municipal office announced plans for new construction in a part of Jerusalem. The president launched an unprecedented weeks-long offensive against Israel. Mr. Biden very publicly departed Israel.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton berated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a now-infamous 45-minute phone call, telling him that Israel had "harmed the bilateral relationship." (The State Department triumphantly shared details of the call with the press.) The Israeli ambassador was dressed-down at the State Department, Mr. Obama's Middle East envoy canceled his trip to Israel, and the U.S. joined the European condemnation of Israel.

Moments after Mr. Biden concluded his visit to the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority held a ceremony to honor Dalal Mughrabi, who led one of the deadliest Palestinian terror attacks in history: the so-called Coastal Road Massacre that killed 38, including 13 children and an American. The Obama administration was silent. But that same day, on ABC, Mr. Axelrod called Israel's planned construction of apartments in its own capital an "insult" and an "affront" to the United States. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went on Fox News to accuse Mr. Netanyahu of "weakening trust" between the two countries.

Ten days later, Mr. Netanyahu traveled to Washington to mend fences but was snubbed at a White House meeting with President Obama—no photo op, no joint statement, and he was sent out through a side door.

• April 2010: Mr. Netanyahu pulled out of the Obama-sponsored Washington summit on nuclear proliferation after it became clear that Turkey and Egypt intended to use the occasion to condemn the Israeli nuclear program, and Mr. Obama would not intervene.

• March 2011: Mr. Obama returned to his habit of urging Israelis to engage in self-reflection, inviting Jewish community leaders to the White House and instructing them to "search your souls" about Israel's dedication to peace.

• May 2011: The State Department issued a press release declaring that the department's No. 2 official, James Steinberg, would be visiting "Israel, Jerusalem, and the West Bank." In other words, Jerusalem is not part of Israel. Later in the month, only hours before Mr. Netanyahu departed from Israel to Washington, Mr. Obama delivered his Arab Spring speech, which focused on a demand that Israel return to its indefensible pre-1967 borders with land swaps.

John Cahill
NY
September 15th, 2011
9:51 am
First, I express my unwavering respect for the sacred memory of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the most evil event of my lifetime, and my unwavering respect extends to the Jewish religion and its believers. It does not, however, extend to the current policies of the current government of the nation-state, Israel. Those policies are inhumanly oppressive and the government is impenetrably intransigent. The realpolitik is that there are fewer than 20 million Jews in the world and more than 1000 million Muslims; there are fewer than 8 million American Jews and more than 300 million Americans. Instead of worrying so much about the votes of the 8 million, Obama should be worried about the votes of the tens of millions of voters, like myself, who believe that our moral and ethical responsibility coincides with our national interest, which calls for us to vote in favor of Palestinian statehood in the UN Security Council.

student1776
New York
From Obama's exiting of Netanyahu by the trash cans at the White House to his springing an anti-Israel policy on Netanyahu at his most recent visit (a situation Netanyahu successfully publicized) to Obama's refusal to accept Jerusalem as the Israeli capital to Obama's siding with Hamas against the Israeli government - no fair minded observer can come to any conclusion other than that Obama is anti-Israel. The anti-Semitic rants he sat through at the Reverend Wrights church for 20 years may play a role in the genesis of this. Or Obama may just be reflecting the global leftist belief system that sees Israel not as a nation that made the desert bloom or created the only democracy in the region but that sees Israel as an oppressor. Or Obama may be more favorable to Islam based on his youthful experiences. Who knows? None of us are his psychotherapist. But what we do know is that he bears nothing but ill will to Israel. Jews who do not see the survival of Israel as important to them can continue to support him if they wish (and if they like living with national economic stagnation). But any Jew who cares about the existence of Israel cannot support Obama.

Ed Thomas
Manhattan, NY
Obama has clearly pushed away Israel as a close friend. I don't understand why the robust denials are coming from the Democratic party leaders. It is a calculated position that Obama is taking. He feels the Jewish vote is his no matter how badly he abuses Israel and their leader. I don't know how Debbie Wasserman-Shultz can say what she does with a straight face. She knows exactly what is happening.

NY-9 should be considered a first step to tell the Democratic party that the Republican party is the only one they can count on to fully support Israel in both good and difficult times.

The Palestinians are seeking to have a UN vote on their acceptance as a member of the UN which will recognize the West Bank, Gaza and possibly sections of Israel as a Palestinian nation. I guess that the Arab Spring could turn out to be a Bloody Middle East Fall.

**Amber** · 09-15-2011, 09:29 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Israelis come down after being displaced themselves and proceed to systematically displace Palestinians? That IS historically accurate, no?

History sure can be an exercise in irony sometimes.