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ON THE COVER

Election from page A21

The Democrats

Obama Reaches
For Jewish Support
Barack Obama has made Jewish leaders
an early stop at every stage in his politi-
cal career.
In his first run for the Illinois Senate in
1996, he sought the backing of top Chicago
lawyer Alan Solow. Eight years later, run-
ning for the U.S. Senate, one of his first
meetings was with Robert Schrayer, a top
Jewish philanthropist in Chicago.
When he launched his campaign for
the Democratic presidential nomination
in late 2006, he named as his fundraising
chief Alan Solomon, the Boston Jewish
philanthropist who helped Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., to the Democratic candi-
dacy in 2004.
And he chose a March gathering of
AIPAC to deliver his presidential candi-
dacy's first foreign policy speech.
"Some of my earliest and most ardent
supporters came from the Jewish com-
munity in Chicago," Obama said in 2004,
after his keynote speech galvanized the
Democratic convention in Boston.
Three years later, addressing the
National Jewish Democratic Council's

candidate's forum, he made
the same point when he
was asked about his ties
with Arab Americans and
Muslim Americans in
Chicago.
"My support within in
the Jewish community has
been much more significant
than my support within the
Muslim community;' Obama
said, adding that "I welcome
and seek the support of the
Muslim and Arab commu-
nities." His Jewish followers are fervent,
distributing "Obama '08" yarmulkes early
in his campaign.
His star status and the relationships
Obama has built in the community have
helped avoid murmurings about his
otherwise notable divergences from pro-
Israel orthodoxies.
In his AIPAC speech, for example,
Obama favored diplomacy as a means
of confronting Iran's suspected nuclear
weapons program. A few weeks later,
Obama drew more rubberneckers
than any other candidate attending

AIPAC's policy forum
in Washington, drawing
away onlookers from
Hillary Clinton.
No one winced when
he said that Palestinian
needs must be considered
in working out a peace
deal. He made the same
point at the NJDC event.
"It is in the interests of
Israel to establish peace
in the Middle East;' he
said.
"It cannot be done at the price of
compromising Israel's security, and the
United States government and an Obama
presidency cannot ask Israel to take risks
with respect to its security. But it can ask
Israel to say that it is still possible for us
to allow more than just this status quo
of fear, terror, division. That can't be our
long-term aspiration."
Obama tempers his deviations from
pro-Israel orthodoxy by going the extra
mile in areas where he agrees with
groups such as AIPAC.
He has led the effort in the Senate to

pass legislation that would assist U.S.
states that choose to divest from Iran.
His top Middle East adviser is Dennis
Ross, who had the job during the Clinton
administration and who since has prin-
cipally blamed the Palestinian leadership
for the failure of the Oslo peace process.
And in recent speeches, Obama
tweaked his pro-Israel rhetoric to echo
the recent drive by the Israeli govern-
ment and pro-Israel groups to insist on
recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
On domestic issues, Obama is savvy
about Jewish social justice commitments
and is on a first-name basis with two
of the top Jewish religious lobbyists in
Washington — Rabbi David Saperstein
of the Reform movement and Nathan
Diament, who represents the Orthodox
Union.
Public policy groups are likelier to
favor Hillary Clinton's uncompromising
approach on universal health care, as
opposed to Obama's plan to build con-
sensus on the issue.
Obama's appeal is in his broader
vision, according to Solomon.

Connect, Disconnect
With Edwards
In 2004, John Edwards lost the Democratic
presidential nomination because he was
considered a foreign policy lightweight. He
won the vice presidential slot because his
social policies had depth.
Four years later, Edwards' social and
domestic positions remain pretty much
the same — positions that are favored
by the vast majority of American Jewish
voters. His foreign policies now have
substance, too. That's what worries some
Jewish voters. Off the record, Jewish orga-
nizational leaders say they are alarmed by
Edwards' about-face on Iran.
In January 2007, the former North
Carolina senator spoke via videocast to the
Herzliya Conference, the annual gather-
ing of top Israeli and U.S. foreign policy
specialists. "For years, the U.S. hasn't done
enough to deal with what I have seen as a
threat from Iran:' Edwards told the confer-
ence, known to be top heavy with neocon-
servatives. "To ensure that Iran never gets

nuclear weapons, we need
to keep all options on the
table. Let me reiterate — all
options must remain on the
table."
Edwards' remarks set
off a firestorm on the
Democratic Party's left,
particularly among blog-
gers. This was the party
base Edwards was cultivat-
ing with his "two Americas"
domestic policy on poverty.
Two weeks later, Edwards
told the American Prospect, a liberal
monthly, that attacking Iran "would have
very bad consequences."
He went on to elaborate: "It would be
foolish for any American president to ever
take any option off the table." But above
all, he favored direct negotiations with
Iran.
Edwards' stance is anathema to much of
the pro-Israel establishment, which views
direct negotiations as a means for Iran to

buy time and develop a
nuclear weapons pro-
gram.
In the American
Jewish Committee poll
taken in November,
Edwards scored 38 per-
cent in approval ratings,
in a dead heat for third
with Democratic rival
Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill. Clinton led with
53 percent, followed by
Giuliani at 41 percent.
It probably didn't help that Edwards'
campaign chairman is David Bonior,
a former member of the U.S. House of
Representatives from Michigan who has
a history of being a tough critic of Israel.
Shortly after announcing the choice in late
2006, Bonior sent out feelers to top pro-
Israel donors, assuring them that his focus
was not foreign policy.
"For years I have argued that the United
States has not been doing enough to deal

with the growing threat in Iran," Edwards
told AIPAC in 2006.
"While we've talked about the dangers
of nuclear terrorism, we've largely stood
on the sidelines as the problems got
worse."
Significantly, he included his "two
Americas" pitch on poverty in the same
speech — a curious pitch to a crowd that
is all foreign policy all the time.
Or maybe not so curious: No American
sub-electorate, save perhaps for blacks, is
as attuned to Edwards on domestic policy
as is the Jewish community. The tough
talk on Iran and on poverty drew applause
at the AIPAC confab.
Edwards strongly favors universal,
mandatory health care and expanding tax
credits for child care and higher educa-
tion — issues that resonate with domestic
Jewish lobbyists in Washington.
He has drawn strong Jewish support; his
top fundraiser is Fred Baron of Texas, like
Edwards, a prominent trial lawyer.

A22

January 31 • 2008

- Ron Kampeas, JTA

- Ron Kampeas, JTA