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by our soldiers and against this threat
to our own security, so I actively
campaigned for him, knocking on
doors and making phone calls," said
Fishman. "I made so many phone calls
and spent so much of my time cam-
paigning that the local Bush team on
two occasions invited me to sit behind
the president."
Israel and national security are
his primary concerns as a Jew, but as
far as Obama's economic policies are
concerned, "I am bothered by a sort of
redistribution of wealth philosophy:'
he said. Fishman's grandfather was
a Holocaust survivor who came here
with nothing, and his father worked
his way through undergraduate and
law school to pay for his education, he
said. "When I was 14, for my birth day
he got me a job application.
"I also worked a full-time job dur-
ing three years of undergraduate
school, and now through law school I
continue to be employed:' he said. "My
appreciation of.hard work, savings
and that you have to earn what you
want out of life were not taught to me
as Republican concepts.
"My father, mother, grandparents
are all Democrats, but I think the
fundamentals they taught me are
that in the face of persecution and
without anybody looking to help you
out but your own family, neighbors
and friends, you can make something
of your life he said. "I think the
Republicans may be more verbose
when it comes to Israel, but I think
both parties are committed to Israel."

_

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Local Democrats
Jeremy Moss, 25, Southfield City
Council member and proud
Democrat, agrees.
"There's an unfair perception that
Barack Obama has
been soft in his
support for Israel,
but that myth is
dispelled by just
examining what the
president has done
in the last three
years:' he said. "I
Jeremy Moss
was at the Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah din-
ner last year when
Vice President Joe Biden, the keynote
speaker, articulated point by point
what the administration has achieved
to help maintain a secure Israeli state,
including helping Israel to develop a
missile defense system and imposing
tighter sanctions on Iran:'
He also thinks that the trend of Jews
turning Republican might reverse
itself if certain conditions are met.
"In our area, Oakland County
Republicans are fiscally conservative

but ambivalent, or even progressive,
on social issues:' he said. "Should the
economy take an upswing, I think that
Republican Jews might realize that
major tenants of the Republican Party
platform are out of touch with the
Jewish religion:'
Hy Safran, 27, of Royal Oak said the
Democratic Party has a long history
of "standing up for the values Jewish
voters hold dear, such as working to
improve our edu-
cational system,
fighting for eco-
nomic and social
justice, advocating
for the separa-
tion of church and
state, empowering
women
and minor-
Hy Safran
ities, safeguarding
a woman's right to
choose and strongly
standing with Israel.
"Likewise, Jews have long been at
the forefront of informing the direc-
tion of the Democratic Party and its
values:' said Safran, congressional
outreach director for U.S. Rep. Gary
Peters, D-Bloomfield Township. "Just
like the United States and Israel have
common values and common vision,
so, too, does the Democratic Party and
the American Jewish community. It is
this unbreakable bond that explains
why self-identified Democratic Jewish
voters always outnumber self-identi-
fied Republican Jewish voters by such
significant margins:'
There is nothing definitive in the
perceived Jewish shift to the GOP,
said Kenneth Bandler, director of
media relations for the nonpartisan
American Jewish Committee. "We
will know more after AJC completes
its new survey of American Jews in
April;' he said.
According to the AJC's annual sur-
vey taken in September 2011, Obama
had a 45 percent overall approval rat-
ing among Jews. He also had a 40 per-
cent approval on the handling of U.S
Israel relations, but it was down from
54 percent in 2010.
Republican Fishman said that,
rhetoric and surveys aside, the last
four years "are a wonderful lesson for
my generation: There is no shame in
being moderate. There is no shame
in only agreeing with some of your
party's platform.
"Ultimately, for anything to get
done in Washington, Lansing or what-
ever political institution you are con-
cerned with:' he said, "there have to be
leaders who are willing to come to the
middle, build consensus and agree to
get back to work and take care of the
business that impacts our economy
— that should be our focus" 0

