Has Obama lost the Jewish vote?

[NeoConsSuck]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Jewish voters, a typically reliable bloc for the Democratic Party, are now the focus of Democrats intent on keeping their support and Republicans who see an opportunity to pull them in after New York's recent special congressional election.

Longtime New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf said the election, in which a Republican won the historically Democratic district, was in part a reaction to the president's approach to Israel. Sheinkopf said the contest served as a "liberating device" for Jewish voters and not just Orthodox Jews, who tend to be more socially conservative.

"It is very unlikely he gets large portions of the pro-Israel community back; it's too late. Something extraordinarily miraculous would have to occur," Sheinkopf said. "There is a general sense of betrayal that this guy just doesn't understand who these Jews are.

"He got his first warning," Sheinkopf added.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/20/politics/obama-jewish-vote/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Deep13]

1. Short answer: no.

American Jews are not necessarily adamantly pro-Israel. It's really the the fundy Xtians who are into that.

[rucky]

3. Seriously, WTF is up with that?

It creeps me out when a conservative type finds out I'm Jewish and starts gushing about Israel, so I tell them my POV and watch them start foaming at the mouth.

[Deep13]

19. Fundies consider the establishment of a Jewish state...

...to be step 1 on the road to the end of the world when Jesus comes back. They are eagerly awaiting that.

[leftynyc]

47. May I amend that a bit

I think most American Jews are very strong supporters of Israel. That, however, does not translate into unconditional support. It also doesn't mean we would turn our backs on what it means to be Jewish (it's not what we believe that makes us Jews, it's how we live our lives) - our religion requires us to be socially conscious, care for those less fortunate - that's why we're Democrats and were Democrats before Israel came into being.

[Inuca]

50. Very well put n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

55. Let me amend that even further

Unconditional support for Israel doesn't translate into support of the Likud Party's policies. There's lots of patriotic Israelis who don't agree with the Netanyahu government.

[rucky]

2. so that's the MSM meme today, eh?

Perry's honing in on it too.

Notice how nobody's saying what exactly is wrong with his policy.

It's also funny how the pro-theocracy conservative types are jumping on him right before the UN vote (which the US will veto), so WTF

[still_one]

4. No. but strange as it may sound there are not that many Jews left after WWII. World wide it is

about 15 million.

In spite of the MSM propaganda that Obama has changed its policy toward Israel, that is not just a misrepresentation, but a lie

The 1967 boundaries were always the basis since the Carter administration

[BadgerKid]

5. FUD(*) is all part of the GOP plan.

*Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

[elleng]

6. B.S. meme really pisses me off.

[hlthe2b]

10. Ditto.... Such blatant lies and exploitation is just despiccable...

[MrSlayer]

7. It's unseemly to be more concerned with a foriegn country than your own.

Are you a fucking American or not? You would vote for the people bent on destroying America because they are more fervent in their support for Israel? It's traitorous.

[atreides1]

9. Agreed

How can you claim to be an American, when you're more concerned about a foreign country?

[Purveyor]

13. Indeed! +1 eom

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[karynnj]

49. Even in terms of caring for a foreign country, most Jews do not support Likkud

- nor do most support AIPAC. In a survey done in the Jewish community about 60% favored a 2 state solution.

Both Aipac and JStreet sent speakers - on two different days on a Sunday morning to my synagogue. There was more "concern" before JStreet came, but the organization gained a lot more respect from their discussion with us. Not so with AIPAC - they were so narrow minded and argued they were "non-prescriptive" where JStreet was "telling Israel what to do". When pushed, Non=prescriptive meant they supported whatever Israel did. Believe me, that went over very poorly. They also became immediately hostile as soon as these type of questions were asked. (It was also funny that they left without taking their sign in sheets. )

I recognize that these were two women, including the regional director, who, though they were representing AIPAC, might have been worse than other people in the organization, but this intolerant attitude likely came from somewhere.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

52. Jews Have Been Giving Seventy Percent Plus Of Their Votes To Democrats Since Time Immemorial

I don't agree with George Will on much but he's on to something when he opines that Jews have the economic pattern of WASPS and the voting pattern of Puerto Ricans.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Obama has done a lot to piss off Jewish voters

The ones I know in my area are not as happy with him as they were three years ago. I do feel that the NY-09 election was a way to warn the President to make sure that his administration opposes statehood for the Palistinians when it comes up before the UN.

If the United States failed to veto that, then Obama would lose the Jewish vote.

[atreides1]

11. If they feel that stongly about it

Why live 5,000 miles away when they can fight this battle up close and personal?

[customerserviceguy]

20. While they have not been faced with the choice between

Obama, and say, Rick Perry, they have been grousing about it all summer. Well, they're Jewish, they're expected to do that!

Seriously, many do support Israel through tourism and donations, and since they're my age or older, they're not going to go to the Mideast and actually fight.

[ellisonz]

44. Isolationism was a Republican position in 1939.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

53. I Don't Understand Your Argument

If a person opposes this policy or that policy of his or government are they obligated to leave?

[Hardrada]

12. Que sera sera.

[elleng]

14. NOT.

Repugs took advantage of unusual make-up of NY-09, CONSERVATIVE Jews among others, and Ed Koch 'helped.' My Jewish friends and relations have NO SUCH negative feelings about President Obama, but recognize the awful cards he was dealt as well as the insanity he tries to deal with every day.

[customerserviceguy]

24. Ah, but he has

Warning, this is from the Wall Street Journal, but can anyone dispute the facts in the article entitled, "Why Obama is Losing the Jewish Vote":

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904353504576568710341742174.html?KEYWORDS=israel

I read it a couple of weeks ago, and I have to admit, it made some points.

[leveymg]

26. At least half the "Jewish vote" is in favor of Palestinian statehood.

You're talking about the Bibi Netanyahu Likud bloc who feel strongly against that. There are liberals who are also frightened, but most of them could live with a Palestinian state. It's the extremist settlers and their Right-wing allies in the US who are against Obama on this issue.

We need them like a hole in the head.

[Taverner]

16. Hell no.

I don't even think he has lost the liberal vote

But despite this, he needs to stay on our side during the CLASS WAR

[CBHagman]

17. Not the way the Republican Party is today!

There's a strong tradition of devotion to social justice, to progressive politics, to intellectual rigor. The GOP has been taken over by people who doubt climate change and would let the market set the availability of health care. I can't see a stampede of Jewish voters to support that.

[Blacksheep214]

18. We are Americans!

We need to quit sub-dividing ourselves in order to be manipulated.

E Pluribus Unum? Or did we toss that too?

[pscot]

39. It doesn't take much

to get us fighting among ourselves.

[PlanetBev]

21. Believe me, they ain't gonna vote for Perry

Nothing scares the shit out of us more that bible beating, Armageddon nutbags.

[customerserviceguy]

25. He'll make an effort to reach out to them

And Perry's fundie base will give him zero grief over it.

[JVS]

34. Some will, some won't.

[leftynyc]

48. Only the orthodox

will vote Perry (and that will not be unusual, they usually vote republican). And you're right, nothing annoys us more than the Christian fundies who want to fulfill their death wish of end times.

[Itchinjim]

22. What are you? Mishugenah?!!

Oy!

[surrealAmerican]

36. Watch your language!

Seriously, the grammar is a bit off: You are either mishugah, or you are a mishugana. Is it an adjective or noun here?

[Itchinjim]

46. Sorry. That's what happens when one gets their Yiddish from

Wikipedia.:-)

[vaberella]

23. Funny you should say that. MSNBC just had a whole thing about how Obama is a Jewish President.

You just don't know who's telling the truth.

[DesertFlower]

27. the NJDC has only good things to say about obama.

[AtomicKitten]

28. He probably never had the uber-rightwing-pro-Israel & rabid-anti-Palestinian vote

... who apparently believe President Obama is "appeasing Arabs."

:puke:

[FrenchieCat]

29. Guess the media is pissed that his approval rating might climb back up...

after all that work they've done to keep it from happening.

Corporate media must stay pissed at this President to no end.
The more they try, the fuckier they look.

[Mass]

30. No more than any other group.

[Behind the Aegis]

41. Thank you for providing some actual facts. It will interfere with the game-playing...

....of the right AND left!

[OHdem10]

31. No and if they nominate Perry, the Jewish vote will go to Obama

overwhelmingly.

[treestar]

32. There are 435 Districts

Why does this district mean so much? Oh, yeah, because a Repuke just won.

Blah, blah, blah, every election is a referendum on the President to these Presidency-obsessed nuts. They wouldn't give a local anything credit for their own choices no matter where they were or what happened, unless the Democrat won and then it would just be local.

[nmbluesky]

33. Really? awswer NO!!

I'm a Jewish.. and I will vote Obama!!!

[JVS]

35. I question whether there is such a thing as the Jewish vote.

Anecdotes don't equal data, but among the Jewish people I know there are various political alignments. I know kids from families where mentioning Ronald Reagan simply isn't done who have become teabagger wackos or Ayn Rand fans. As far as I'm concerned, I'd need to see evidence for a distinct Jewish vote that takes location into account. What I suspect is that Jews vote very much like their neighbors and economic peers.

[applegrove]

37. All the GOP need is to win a small percentage of the democratic vote from various groups and they

win an election. They have been seriously gunning for the jewish vote for the last 10 years.

[bullwinkle428]

38. Hasn't lost mine at all, for as much as I'm critical of him here at DU!

He's actually been doing a damn good job on this issue from the beginning, so I don't want to hear anyone say that I never say anything good about him! ;)

[totodeinhere]

40. I don't think he has "lost" the Jewish vote. He will probably get a majority of their votes. But...

in a close election a slightly smaller percentage of Jewish votes could be worrisome in some states. And that could be a problem.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. This is Jew-baiting.

That Jews are participating in this is BEYOND nauseating!

[ellisonz]

43. We're kvetching. But yes, it is baiting.

:7

[ellisonz]

45. No. Not even a little bit...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

51. He Is Still Polling Better Among Jews Than Any Other Minority Beside African Americans

Any candidate with a (D) after his name should get at least seventy percent of votes from Jews.

[Blacksheep214]

54. I don't feel it's an insult...

...to say that JEWS AREN"T STUPID!!!!

The media and politicos think they can create a silk purse from a sows ear....

'nuff said!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

56. NO!

[Hippo_Tron]

57. The punditry was predicting this shit before the 2008 election, same shit different day

Obama won the NY-9th with 55% of the vote, within a few fractions of a percentage of what John Kerry won it by. Al Gore won it by significantly more. All three of them won the Jewish vote nationwide by about the same amount.

The Orthodox Jews in the NY-9th were trending Republican before they even knew who Barack Obama was. The rest of the Jews in the country haven't followed suit and probably aren't going to.