6
4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 18, 2004
OPINION
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EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
.SINCE 1890
JORDAN SCHRADER
Editor in Chief
JASON Z. PESICK
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of
the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
" The American
people will have a
clear choice in the
election of 2004 -
at least as clear as
any since the
election of 1984."
- Vice President Dick Cheney, referring
to the 1984 election in which President
Reagan walked away with 49 states, in a
speech yesterday, as reported
by The New York Times.
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Jewish voting patterns: Tradition!
JASON Z. PESICK ONE SMALL VOICE
or decades, Jews
have formed one of
the country's most
loyal Democratic voting
blocks. Almost since the
day many of them arrived
in America, the new Jew-
ish immigrants raced to
assimilate, leaving the
remnants of the ghettos in
Eastern Europe. The community achieved
great economic prosperity, becoming leaders
in areas from science to law, to politics, to
music. But for an ethnic group in such a
hurry to weave itself into the fabric of Ameri-
can society, Jews have maintained an identity
as devoted Democrats.
I'm not exactly sure why this is the case. If
you ask five different American Jews why they
have traditionally voted for Democrats, you'll
probably get at least five different responses,
but I think it has something to do with Roo-
sevelt's New Deal, Democratic presidents
defeating Germany in World War II, President
Truman creating the state of Israel and the
Jewish community's immigrant roots and
desires to rise to the top of a society dominat-
ed by Republican "WASPs." There's a history
of Jewish devotion to education, and as poor
immigrants, many Jews were educated in pub-
lic schools, not in private or parochial institu-
tions. American Jews are also liberal on social
issues, and many have also been involved in
professions, such as teaching and law, that
tend to attract liberals.
According to CNN, Al Gore won 79 per-
cent of the Jewish vote in 2000, and Bill Clin-
ton garnered between 70 and 80 percent in
both of his presidential campaigns. This trend
can even be detected all the way back to the
beginning of the 20th century. But now, a num-
ber of prominent Jewish Republicans believe
President Bush has a fighting chance of revers-
ing this trend. The executive director of the
Republican Jewish Coalition, Matthew Brooks,
cites a January poll the American Jewish Com-
mittee released showing 31 percent support
among American Jews for Bush. Thirty-one
percent is not exactly a triumph for an incum-
bent wartime president, but given that there are
high concentrations of Jews in swing states like
Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, they
could have an effect in November even though
Jews make up less than 2 percent of the coun-
try's population. It is a powerful minority that
turns out to vote in high numbers.
The conventional wisdom is that because
Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon see eye-to-eye on Middle East poli-
tics, Jews will flock to the president. The
Detroit Free Press quoted U.S. Rep. Antho-
ny Weiner (D-N.Y.) as saying, "Among the
Democratic voter base for whom Israel is a
seminal issue, there are many more who are
writing checks to Republicans than I have
ever seen." And Weiner is a Kerry supporter.
But I don't buy this argument. Since that
poll was taken, John Kerry has emerged as
the Democratic nominee. And as the cam-
paign continues, Bush's differences with Jew-
ish voters will surface. His domestic agenda
of going far to the right on social issues and
his dismal economic record will not square
with Jews in the fall.
Bush's close ties to the oil industry and
his family's cozy relationship with the Saudi
royal family will also not help inflate that 31
percent number either. And more religiously
observant Jews will be turned off by Bush's
religious base in large part because of Mel
Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
The Jewish "leaders" who claim their
community is drifting toward the president
have an interest in convincing the nation's
political parties the Jewish vote is up for
grabs. They want attention; they want the
candidates to pander to them.
But it's also time for legitimate Jewish
leaders to fulfill their responsibility to lead
the community. Many American Jews have
strong feelings regarding the Arab-Israeli
conflict, but lack a sophisticated understand-
ing of the situation. Rabbis need to educate
their congregations on the conflict, as they
encouraged their congregations to embrace
the civil rights movement and not harass
black families trying to move into predomi-
nately white neighborhoods decades ago.
In this year's campaign, Kerry will have
additional support from Arab-Americans, as
they have become disenchanted with a presi-
dent that had significant Arab-American
support in 2000. American Jewish and Arab-
American interests have converged
approaching the election. A successful Iraqi
transition to democracy (which seems to be
eluding Bush at this time) would delight
both groups and especially Israel. A peace-
ful, negotiated, two-state solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict has support in
both communities as well.
Jews and Arabs have had a contentious
relationship for centuries. But in this year's
elections, they will vote together.
Pesick can be reached at
jzpesick@umich.edu.
6
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
6
LSA-SG presidential
elections need to remain
democratic, not insulated
TO THE DAILY:
As a former elected representative of the
Michigan Student Assembly, three-term MSA
Student Rights Commission chair and Central
Student Judiciary justice, I am deeply trou-
bled by the ballot initiative appearing on the
ballot of the LSA Student Government elec-
tions this week.
If successful, the initiative would make the
president and vice president of LSA-SG inter-
nally selected positions - only representa-
tives would be elected.
Although this newspaper alleged in your-
editorial Monday (Reforming Government
03/15/04) that the proposal would "ensure
that executives are elected based on compe-
tence, not charisma," I think the real effect
would further insulate student government
from the student body.
I view the proposal as a thinly-veiled reac-
tion to the election of Monique Luse and Tim
Whalen as LSA-SG president and vice presi-
dent in winter 2002, both student government
outsiders at the time. However, I think their elec-
tion by a comfortable margin simply illustrated
exactly how alienated and out of touch most stu-
dents felt from the existing representatives; Luse
and Whalen won the votes they received.
As long as we profess democratic princi-
pals, electoral upsets will happen. The proper
reaction of the other members of student gov-
ernment should be to educate and work with
the newly elected candidates as much as pos-
sible, not to seek to insulate themselves fur-
ther from the electorate.
The efforts of Stuart Wagner, Janu Lakash-
man and Andrew Yahkind to oppose this elitist
proposal should be commended, and in addition
to voting on yesterday and today, LSA students
should vote no on the ballot proposal.
ROB GOODSPEED
LSA senior
Former MSA-LSA Representative
Former Daily reporter
University needs to do
more to help Ann Arbor
TO THE DAILY:
artistic importance is staggering - Students
for a Democratic Society, the ONCE music
festivals, the Free John Sinclair Rallies, the
Ann Arbor Film Festival itself. Yet monu-
ments are fading, and the community that
supported them is in strife as well. In the last
year, in addition to the Technology Center,
we have seen the loss of The Del Rio, the
Ann Arbor Tenants Union, the Student Wood-
shop and Decker Drugs. Rent costs have
forced Schoolkids Records literally under-
ground and Fantasy Attic Costumes has, like
the 555 Gallery of the Tech Center, fled the
city. In their place we are seeing more and
more of Starbucks, Sprint Cellular and luxu-
ry condominiums. Hash Bash and the annual
summer Art Fair are now laughable. The
town's gentrification isn't only a threat to low
income artists; as student housing prices
escalate, it's a threat to community members,
business owners and the student body.
Tonight, you could feel this in the theater.
While the citizens are upset with the changing
face of Ann Arbor, the film documented the
city's utter indifference to the shift. As we all
know, the University is Ann Arbor. We are still
made up of Anti-War Action!, affirmative action
and the newly re-emerging SDS. But what are
we doing for the town? Who is leading the fight
for our right to afford to live in our own town?
The students of the University are responsible
for demanding an end to the exploitative deteri-
oration of Ann Arbor. The death of the Tech
Center signifies a crossroads. We can either
demand that the University works to end the
city's homogenization, or smile as the condos
set in to pick clean the bones of a once vibrant
city.
JOHN NOTARIANNI
LSA sophomore
MSA president, et al:
support Trotter House
TO THE DAILY:
Your article (Bringing down the house,
03/15/04) proposes that students vote no on the
Trotter House ballot question that is being voted
on this yesterday and today during Michigan
Student Assembly elections. We stand as stu-
dents who maintain that the best action for stu-
dents to take is to vote yes on the ballot
proposal. The Daily was right when it said the
William Monroe Trotter House's infrastructure
knows negotiations with the administration
center around numbers, especially for issues
important to student services. There are cur-
rently students organizing, working and talking
to the administration about the dire need for
renovations to Trotter House. While we can
meet and lobby and ask for the administration
to address our concerns, all we have gotten in
the past 10 years is a consultant hired for one
year to write the "student vision."
It is important that the administration put
money toward this facility, especially with its
claim that they have a commitment to diversity.
It is also important that students be conscious
and aware of the way the administration works
here at the University. Students should be pre-
pared and ready for the administration to stall
on issues important to the students that fall
under the Division of Student Affairs. If this
measure were voted down, the University
administration would be given a mandate to
continue ignoring Trotter House indefinitely.
Experience has taught us that without statistics
and numbers to back us, our pleas mean little to
the administration. We have power in numbers.
The Daily should know that the students who
brought this ballot question do not intend to
abandon this issue after the elections.
This is not a "stop-gap" measure. This
ballot question is one step in a much larger
process. If this ballot question does not
pass, it will be detrimental to the develop-
ment of the Trotter House. Even if it were
voted down because students feel more
University resources need to be allocated
to the renovations, these distinctions will
be lost in the Fleming Administration
Building. Students will be saying they
actually do not care for the condition of
our multicultural center. We urge students
to vote yes on this ballot question. Let's
tell the administration that we value multi-
culturalism and the Trotter House.
ANGELA GALARDI
President, Michigan Student Assembly
MONIQUE PERRY
Vice President, MSA
ELLIOTT WELLS-REID
Treasurer MSA
JASON MIRONOV
Student General Counsel, MSA
PETE WOIWODE
MSA representative
SAM WOLL
MSA representative
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