the Jewish people have undergone, but
also mindful of the incredible opportu-
nity that is presented when people finally
return to a land and are able to try to
excavate their best traditions and their
best selves. And obviously, it's something
that has great resonance with the African-
American experience'
Obama's feverish efforts to allay Jewish
concerns, polls showed him having trouble
with Jewish voters — first during the pri-
mary season, when he reportedly trailed
his main party rival, U.S. Sen. Hilary
Clinton, D-N.Y., and then throughout
much of the general election race when
surveys showed him failing to match the
totals of previous Democratic nominees.
In recent weeks, however, as the
Republican ticket has had to cope with the
nation's economic collapse and the declin-
ing popularity of vice-presidential choice
Sarah Palin, Obama has been able to flood
swing states with waves of newfound
Jewish surrogates who were either neutral
or with Clinton during the primaries but
are now speaking out for him.
Strong On Israel
Such policy and ideological pronounce-
ments were enough to secure support
during the Democratic primaries from
a few pro-Israel stalwarts in the U.S.
Congress (most notably Robert Wexler of
Florida) and the media (New Republic edi-
tor-in-chief Martin Peretz). And even the
recently defunct New York Sun — a neo-
conservative newspaper that had plenty
of problems with Obama's domestic and
foreign policies — felt inspired to publish
an editorial in his defense on the general
question of support for Israel.
"We're no shills for Mr. Obama, but
these Republicans haven't checked their
facts:' the newspaper declared in the Jan.
9, 2008, editorial. "At least by our lights,
Mr. Obama's commitment to Israel, as he
has articulated it so far in his campaign,
is quite moving and a tribute to the broad,
bipartisan support that the Jewish state
has in America."
Still, despite such sentiments and
Upward And Onward
Their effectiveness was in evidence last
week in a Gallup Poll that showed Obama
breaking through a plateau that had
dogged him for months: The Democratic
candidate garnered 74 percent Jewish
support, matching past Democratic can-
didates and bypassing the persistent 60
percent showing since the primaries.
The trend toward Obama was tangible
earlier this month at the B'nai Israel
synagogue in Rockville, Md., where the
Republican Jewish Coalition's Noah
Silverman made the case for GOP nomi-
independents and the mainstream media
is his willingness to work with liberal
stalwarts — Massachusetts Sen. Edward
Kennedy on immigration and Wisconsin
Sen. Russ Feingold on campaign finance
— and his willingness to criticize con-
servative efforts to demonize political
opponents.
During his own failed bid for the 2000
Republican nomination, McCain lashed
out at the Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat
Robertson, calling them "agents of intol-
erance" after they lined up behind then-
Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
And on Election Night in 2002, while
others in his party were celebrating big
Republican gains, McCain was on The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart lamenting
the defeat of Democrat Max Cleland in
Georgia. It was not the first time that
McCain tore into the GOP over its strategy
of questioning the patriotism of Cleland,
a fellow veteran who lost three limbs in
Vietnam.
It was not so long ago, in other words,
that McCain was known for paling around
with liberal East Coast media elites and
being a target of some evangelical leaders
and conservative radio hosts like Rush
Limbaugh.
Dirty Tactics?
In recent weeks, however, as McCain
ratcheted up his attacks on Obama, he has
found himself being accused of embracing
the same dirty campaign tactics that he
has so often criticized. McCain's detrac-
tors argue that his reputation for straight
talk is no longer deserved, pointing to ads
suggesting that Obama wants to teach kin-
dergarten students how to have sex and
accusing him of associating with domestic
terrorists.
Even several Republican lawmakers and
McCain's own running mate have joined
Democrats in criticizing his campaign's
recent strategy of flooding the phone lines
in swing states with anti-Obama robo-
calls.
Democrats have also taken aim at
McCain's status as a maverick, increasingly
painting him as a clone of President Bush
when it comes to the economy and foreign
policy. They note that the candidate has
surrounded himself with neoconserva-
tive advisers who back the Iraq war and
oppose robust diplomatic intiatives with
Syria and Iran.
Despite McCain's opposition to abor-
tion rights as well as the mounting asser-
tions that he has betrayed his reputation
nee John McCain in a debate with Michael
Levy of the National Jewish Democratic
Council.
Unlike the false depictions of Obama
as a radical Muslim that have spread
through the Internet, Republican Party
reminders of Obama's past associations
with alleged radicals "are not smears:'
Silverman said.
The packed hall burst into sustained
laughter.
Such derision has not inhibited
the guilt-by-association attacks. John
Lehman, a Reagan administration Navy
secretary, at this city's Jewish community
center last week cited the usual litany.
He even tossed in Wright, even though
McCain has banned the use of the pastor's
liberation theology as a cudgel.
"You're known by the company you
keep:' Lehman said several times.
He later defended his mention of
Wright, who once described Israel as a
colonial power and used the phrase "god-
damn America" in a sermon about the
continued struggle facing blacks.
"It's an important issue," Lehman told
JTA. "I don't see how someone could sit in
a pew for 20 years and listen to that crap."
The Youngstown audience wasn't inter-
ested — it peppered Lehman and the
Obama surrogate with questions about
policy.
The Wright Impact
That doesn't mean that some of the
attacks are not substantive. In an inter-
view with JTA during the primaries,
Obama failed to say how he could not have
been aware of Wright's radical views on
Israel over a 20-year relationship with his
church.
"It doesn't excuse the statements that
were made; it's just simply to indicate it's
not as if there was a statement like this
coming up every Sunday when I was at
church;' Obama said at the time, evad-
ing the question, which was how Obama
responded to Wright's radicalism on those
occasions, however infrequently he may
have encountered it.
A few weeks later, Wright's public
appearances grew intolerable, and the
Obamas left the church and cut off the
pastor.
On other fronts, Obama has been less
decisive in walking back from what many
Jewish and pro-Israel activists — includ-
ing his own supporters — see as obvimis
blunders.
Obama still won't acknowledge that
his "I would" reply to a debate question
in 2007 about whether he would meet
unconditionally with Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meant just that.
as a straight-shooting maverick, the
Republican nominee had seemed poised
to make serious inroads among Jewish
voters. Polls for months showed McCain
already surpassing the 25 percent of the
Jewish vote that Bush took in 2004, with
plenty of undecideds still up for grabs.
Undoubtedly, McCain received a boost
from his reputation for bipartisanship and
bucking religious conservatives, his long
record of support for Israel, tough talk on
Iran, a prominent endorsement from U.S.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and lin-
gering questions about Barack Obama.
of the United States, Israel and our other
friends and would invite further interven-
tion from Iraq's neighbors, including a
very much emboldened Iran," McCain told
thousands of pro-Israel activists in June.
"We must not let this happen:'
One of his key advisers on such issues
is Lieberman, who crossed party lines to
endorse the McCain shortly before the
New Hampshire primary. Even before the
endorsement, Lieberman had infuriated
many Democrats with his unflinching
support for the Iraq war and decision to
carry on with a third-party bid after los-
ing Connecticut's Democratic senatorial
primary in 2006.
In the process, however, his stature
seemed to grow within centrist and right-
leaning pro-Israel circles, and he still can
draw a crowd at Florida retirement corn-
munities that remember him fondly as the
first Jewish vice-presidential candidate.
"From the moment the next president
steps into the Oval Office, he or she will
face life-or-death decisions in this war,"
Lieberman told a Republican Jewish
Coalition crowd in January during a stop
in Boca Raton shortly before the GOP
Questioning Obama
While Jewish GOPers have attempted to
paint Obama as someone who might end
up tilting toward the Palestinian side in
the peace process, McCain has focused
more on Iran and Iraq in attempting to
challenge Obama's preparedness to lead
on the Middle East. McCain has pounded
again and again on Obama's stated will-
ingness to meet with Iran's president and
argued that Obama's timeline for a pullout
from Iraq would threaten Israel and the
United States.
"Allowing a potential terrorist sanctu-
ary would profoundly affect the security
Obama on page A28
McCain on page A28
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