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46 April 14

2011

TROIT
JEWISH NEWS

IN

GOP Middle from page 44

"America's ally is now and always will
be the State of Israel;' he said. "I think
the Obama administration sometimes
forgets that fundamental fact:'
Thune has said he is not running,
but his supporters will not count him
out and his appearance at this event
and others like it fuels speculation
that he may return to the race. Dan
Lederman, a Jewish state senator from
South Dakota, joked that he had already
reserved the vice presidential spot on
the Thune ticket.
Romney seemed transformed from
his failed 2008 bid for the GOP nomi-
nation, when he was
faulted for appearing
scripted and uncertain
in his opinions. He
barely consulted a sin-
gle sheet of notes and
spoke in detail not only
on his strengths —
health care and budget
management — but
about the threats fac-
ing Israel from Iran
and about the peace
process.
He subtly cast what
he undoubtedly will
play as his strength — business and
executive experience — into every
topic. Obama, he said, does not under-
stand negotiations, a lacking that led
him to concede too much at the outset
to the Russians in negotiating a missile
drawdown in Europe.
"He could have gotten a commitment
on their part, 'We will not veto crippling
sanctions on Iran," a reference to the
Republican critique that U.N. sanctions
approved last year on Iran were not suf-
ficiently far-reaching. Instead, Romney
said, Obama made it clear from the
outset that he was willing to end missile
defense programs in Poland and the
Czech Republic, a key Russian demand.
"The consequence of not under-
standing negotiations has been extraor-
dinarily difficult;' Romney said.
Romney was relaxed and humorous.
Insisting that the tax cuts he would
advocate targeted the middle class, he
said, "I'm not looking for ways to make
rich people richer" — and then added,
glancing over at Sheldon Adelson, the
billionaire casino magnate and RJC
mainstay sitting in the front row, "Sorry
Sheldon."

Relaxed Romney
He also had a practiced answer on
health care, facing a vulnerability that
has dogged him until now: The plan he
championed in Massachusetts, which
reduced emergency room-generated
costs by mandating health care, was a
model for the plan passed last year by
Obama and which Republicans want to

repeal.
"Romneycare" was good for
Massachusetts, he said, but as president
he would not impose it on all 50 states.
Later he added, to laughter, if Obama
truly modeled his plan on Romney's,
"Why didn't you call me?"
One questioner asked Romney if,
like Donald Trump — another puta-
tive GOP candidate — he would
fight "scrappy" and not behave as a
"gentleman" as he had done in previous
campaigns. The reference appeared to
be to Trump's adoption of arguments
questioning Obama's citizenship cre-
dentials. Romney was
adamant he would not
stoop to "innuendo" in a
campaign.
The most telling
moment in Romney's
appearance was when he
called his wife, Aim, to
the stage.
"Mitt and I can
appreciate coming from
another heritage," she
said, referring to their
Mormon background.
That "another" was a
sign of the difficulties
that minorities have in assimilating
into a party that is still perceived as
predominantly white and Christian.
The perception that "Republican and
Jewish" is an anomaly continues to dog
the RJC, despite its successes, including
upping the Jewish Republican vote from
barely 20 percent in 2008 to more than
30 percent in November's midterms.
Much was made of a show of hands of
first-timers at the confab — about a
third of the room — and speaker after
speaker urged them to bring in more
friends and family.
The event was held at Adelson's
palatial Venetian casino hotel, much of
it taking place on Shabbat. Observant
Jews who attended rushed from servic-
es, prayer shawls over their shoulders to
events during the day Saturday, dodg-
ing oblivious, skimpily dressed cocktail
waitresses attending to the crowds.
The catering was not kosher although
kosher food was available.
A few Orthodox Jews murmured
dissatisfaction with the inconve-
niences, noting that they are the most
Republican of the Jewish religious
groups.
Overall, however, the mood was
jubilant, with spirited defenses of
Republican policies in hallway discus-
sions greeted with effusive nodding,
and with attendees r meeting with
party stars like Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.),
the U.S. House of Representatives
majority leader, and Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, and with Danny Ayalon, the
Israeli deputy foreign minister.

