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October 30, 1987 - Image 28

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1987-10-30

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

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Candidacies Of Clergy Pose
Problems For Jewish Voters

JAMES DAVID BESSER

Washington Correspondent

or the first time in re-
cent history, Christian
clergymen are among
the serious candidates for the
White House — not one, but
two. Both Pat Robertson and
Jesse Jackson pose special
problems for the Jewish con-
stituency —though, surpris-
ingly, for very different
reasons.
Because of the traditional
role of Jewish voters in the
Democratic party, Jackson
needs Jewish liberals in his
drive for the nomination.
Robertson, on the other hand,
can afford to ignore Jews in
his march towards the
Republican convention. But it
will be a different story if the
TV evangelist wins the GOP
nomination. In preparing for
that possibility, Robertson is
seeking not so much to at-
tract Jewish support as to
blunt the thrust of Jewish op-
position.
According to some polls,
Jesse Jackson, the fiery civil
rights leader and preacher
from Chicago, remains the
Democratic frontrunner.
Some political pros argue that
Jackson's early lead is a func-
tion soley of his high name
recognition, and that it will
evaporate as the primaries
move into high gear.
Others argue that Jackson
is articulating positions that
are apt to become more
popular as the economy con-
tinues its frightening
shakeout, and as the ante in
the Persian Gulf is raised.
These analysts argue that
Jackson, the only candidate
representing what used to be
called a "populist" position,
may benefit most from the
wild rush of events in recent
months.
Rev. Jackson's attempts to
make amends with the
Jewish community after the
"Hymietown" fiasco of 1984
continue to flounder. The can-
didate's most recent problems
stem from an upcoming arti-
cle in Tikkun magazine, the
liberal Jewish journal.
In an interview with editor
Michael Lerner, Jackson at-
tempted to smooth over the
controversies swirling around
his positions on Israel, the
Palestinians, Rev. Louis Far-
rakhan and the Holocaust.
Instead, he seemed to add
new layers to the controversy.
In the interview, Jackson
insisted that Arab states such
as Syria, Iraq and Libya, and

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Support for Pat Robertson: Most Jews are wary of Robertson's
fundamentalist and millenarian beliefs.

Iran "already accept the State
of Israel as a fact." Although
he conceded that American
support of Israel is necessary,
he argued for increasing sup-
port of Arab nations as well
as a way of maintaining
America's vital interests in
the region. In response to
pointed questions from
Lerner, the candidate main-
tained that such a policy
would not represent a threat
to Israel.
Several times, Jackson
alluded to Israel's position on
the Palestinian question as
immoral, and he suggested
that Zionism had more to do
with "uprooting people" than
with correcting an historic
wrong. He chastised the
Jewish community for its op-
position to affirmative action.
Although he agreed that
Louis Farrakhan's
characterization of Judaism
as a gutter religion was
"wrong," he generally side-
stepped criticism of the black
Muslim leader, and suggested
that the response to Far-
rakhan's comments has been
exaggerated.
Jackson also defended the
Pope's meeting with Kurt
Waldheim last spring. In
response to a question about
comparisons between the pon-
tiffs decision on Waldheim
and the Church's position on
South Africa, Jackson quick-
ly changed the subject to
focus on Israel's military sup-

port of the racist South
African regime.
Jewish liberals find
themselves in a bind when it
comes to Jackson. Many are
inclined to support his can-
didacy because he comes
closest to representing the
civil-rights, anti-war coali-
tions of the '60s that drew
heavily from the Jewish
community.
But the candidate has not
succeeded in quieting fears
that he harbors a deep anti-
Semitism, and that his
policies as president would be
overtly anti-Israel. "Can he
succeed in calming Jewish
fears? He has come a long
way — and he has a long way
to go," says Marc Pearl, direc-
tor of the liberal Americans
for Democratic Action and
former Washington represen-
tative of the American Jewish
Congress. "I think his poten-
tial for being viewed as a vi-
sionary for causes that Jews
can embrace is still there; he
hasn't lost the war yet."
Pearl points out that
Jackson's potential among
Jewish voters still resides
with those who show up as
"undecided" in the polls.
"Politics is emotion," he says.
"At this point, the people who
worry about his anti-
Semitism probably will never
be convinced, and I don't
think Jackson should ap-
proach them. But the majori-
ty of the Jewish community

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