Obama Backlash?
Democrats voice fears about Obama and the Jewish vote.
I is become as much a campaign-
season staple as Iowa and New
Hampshire: Each election cycle,
Republicans predict a major shift in the
Jewish vote and Democrats end up scoff-
ing all the way to winning upwards of 75
percent at the ballot box.
This year, however, something is differ-
ent.
Many Jewish Democrats — at least in
the heart of Hillaryland — are worried
as it becomes increasingly likely that U.S.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will be the par-
ty's presidential candidate in November.
The anxious mood was easy to detect
last week at the annual dinner of the
New York chapter of the National Jewish
Democratic Council, especially during a
speech by one of the night's five honorees,
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.
"We need to convince Jewish voters
that" Obama will "stand by Israel;' said
Engel, who with four other pro-Clinton
Jewish congressmen from New York
— Gary Ackerman, Steve Israel, Jerrold
Nadler and Anthony Weiner — was recog-
nized for working to bolster the U.S.-Israel
relationship.
Such talk is not a complete surprise
coming from Engel, a hawk from the
Bronx who has taken the lead in pressing
for tougher U.S. sanctions against Syria.
But several other speakers and attendees
voiced similar concerns.
After the speeches, Nadler said he
shared Engel's view that Obama faced
some challenges.
"Barack Obama is not well known in the
Jewish community," Nadler said. "There is
a lot of nervousness!'
Even the NJDC's executive director,
Ira Forman, who in past years was quick
to dismiss any talk of a pending Jewish
crossover to the GOP, raised the alarm.
Borrowing from Charles Dickens,
Forman told the crowd that it was the
"best of times," with Democrats poised
to make "huge gains" in Congress. But it
is also the "worst of times:' he added, cit-
ing a recent Gallup Poll showing Obama
winning 61 percent of the Jewish vote in a
match-up against U.S. Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-N.Y., taking 67 percent against the pre-
sumptive Republican nominee.
Forman noted that while the poll gives
both Democrats a solid majority, it also
shows McCain faring much better among
Jewish voters than his Republican pre-
decessors from the past four presidential
races.
"What does that drop of 15 to 20 per-
cent mean?" he asked. "It means 180,000
votes in the state of Florida if we drop 20
percent. It means 35,000 votes in Ohio.
God forbid New Jersey's in play, 130,000
votes in New Jersey; 16,000 votes in the
small state of Nevada; 25,000 votes in
Colorado; 70,000 votes in Pennsylvania. I
could go on and on."
Both Nadler and Engel said that despite
their objections to Obama's stated willing-
ness to meet with the president of Iran,
they are comfortable with the Illinois
senator. Weiner and Israel also stressed
that for them, backing Obama over John
McCain was an easy choice.
The four honorees on hand —
Ackerman was in Israel as part of a dele-
gation headed by House of Representatives
Speaker Nancy Pelosi — said Obama
would be wise to put Clinton on the
ticket. Some of the lawmakers said the
move would send a reassuring message
to Jewish voters who view her as a proven
supporter of Israel.
However, two NJDC activists at the event
— Trudy Mason, a state committeewom-
an, and Risa Levine, an attorney active in
Israel Bonds and the Democratic National
Committee — rejected the idea.
They said forcing Clinton to serve a
notch below a man with significantly less
experience would alienate many women
like them who actively supported her.
Echoing a view voiced by several of
the politicians in attendance, Mason
and Levine said that ultimately the most
important thing is for Obama to do a bet-
ter job of reaching out to Jewish commu-
nal leaders and activists.
Obama has spoken at high-profile
Jewish or Israel-related events in Chicago
and Washington, met with Jewish commu-
nal leaders in Ohio and Pennsylvania prior
to the respective primaries in those states
and granted several interviews to Jewish
media outlets.
But as several attendees pointed out,
he has yet to establish the sort of strong
personal relationships with many of the
Jewish power players and elected officials
in New York that they are used to enjoying
with Clinton and other national political
figures.
One obstacle until now has been that
in New York, as well as some other states
with significant Jewish populations,
Clinton boasts long-term relationships
with and commands the support of most
of the major Jewish Democratic figures.
That has made it especially difficult dur-
ing the primary season for Obama to
make any significant inroads.
Experience — or Obama's lack of it
— is another factor, especially with pro-
Israel activists who place a high premium
on familiarity and reliability.
"I think the best friend Israel has is
the U.S. Congress, and the longer some-
one is in Congress, the more they get it,"
said Levine, the New York chair of the
DNC-aligned Women's Leadership Forum
Network. "It's not just about the ability to
spout back AIPAC talking points. He hasn't
been there long enough!'
Carter: Israel's 150 nukes
London/JTA — Jimmy Carter, in viola-
tion of a decades-old U.S. policy, publicly
acknowledged that Israel has nuclear
weapons. The former U.S. president, asked
during an appearance at a British literary
festival Sunday about Western efforts to
curb Iran's nuclear program, listed exist-
ing atomic arsenals.
"The U.S. has more than 12,000 nuclear
weapons, the Soviet Union has about the
same, Great Britain and France have sev-
eral hundred, and Israel has 150 or more
he told the audience, according to a tran-
script of the event.
The comments raised eyebrows in
Israel, which since the Nixon administra-
tion has enjoyed "don't ask, don't tell"
understandings in Washington regarding
its non-conventional military capabilities.
Jerusalem officials, having largely
shunned Carter during a recent visit in
which he tried to broker talks between
Israel and Hamas, declined comment
on his new statements. Aharon Zeevi-
Farkash, former chief of Israel's military
intelligence, suggested
Carter may have spoken in response to
feeling "offended" at the cold shoulder he
got from the Olmert government.
and our customers is to bring new leader-
ship to Agriprocessors," Aaron Rubashkin,
the owner of
Agriprocessors, Inc., said. He is the
father of Sholom Rubashkin.
The company made the announcement
two weeks after federal authorities staged
the largest single-site immigration raid
in history. A company statement said that
Agriprocessors is conducting an inde-
pendent investigation of the immigration
issues and is cooperating fully with the
government.
Barack Obama has work to do among
Jewish voters.
Ami Eden
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
Agriprocessors Turmoil
Postville, Iowa/JTA — The chief execu-
tive officer of the United States' largest
kosher meatpacking plant will step down.
Sholom Rubashkin will resign as head
of Agriprocessors Inc. after a search for
a new CEO is completed, the company
announced Friday.
"The best course of action for the com-
pany, its employees, the local community
Jhl
May 29 • 2008
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