toxic
05-22-2008, 09:44 AM
Perhaps that is a suprise to some here.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/obamas_jewish_problem.html
Obama's Jewish problem includes race
Posted May 22, 2008 9:21 AM
by Frank James
It's becoming ever more clear -- Sen. Barack Obama has substantial problems with Jewish voters but what's unclear is what he can do about it.
The latest evidence for Obama's problem with Jewish voters who have usually been reliably Democratic but have real uncertainties about Obama is an excellent piece in this morning's New York Times by Jodi Kantor.
Kantor talked with Jewish voters in South Florida, many of them liberal Democrats, and found real skepticism about Obama, some of it based on a lack of familiarity with him, some of it on misinformation and some of it on plain old-fashioned racism.
By campaigning heavily in Florida, including flooding the state's airwaves and cable pipes with ads, Obama may be able to do something about Jewish voters who have so far resisted his charms because of their unfamiliarity with him or misinformation. But it's hard to see what such campaigning can do to reverse years of racial suspicions many Jewish voters hold about African-Americans.
Anyway, right from the starting blocks, Kantor's piece captures how difficult things are going to be for Obama as he courts voters who should be behind him but aren't.
"The people here, liberal people, will not vote for Obama because of his attitude towards Israel," Ms. Weitz, 83, said, lingering over brunch.
"They're going to vote for McCain," she said.
Ms. Grossman, 80, agreed with her friend's conclusion, but not her reasoning.
"They'll pick on the minister thing, they'll pick on the wife, but the major issue is color," she said, quietly fingering a coffee cup. Ms. Grossman said she was thinking of voting for Mr. Obama, who is leading in the delegate count for the nomination, as was Ms. Weitz.
But Ms. Grossman does not tell the neighbors. "I keep my mouth shut," she said.
Florida, of course, was the state that put President Bush over the top in 2000 and both Bush and Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, fought hard for it in 2004 with Bush pulling away in the state in the end.
With Sen. John McCain, a Republican with strong appeal to independents, the all-but-official Republican nominee, the general-election race is predicted to be close again and Florida may once again be key.
Which means Jewish voters may be key. As my Chicago Tribune colleague Naftali Bendavid wrote recently, other Democratic candidates have been able to rely on relatively high Jewish support.
Still, Obama's lead among Jewish voters is a smaller margin than other Democratic nominees have enjoyed. And doubts about Obama's stands on Jewish issues and Israel stubbornly persist in segments of the community, in part due to methodical campaigns against him by his conservative critics.
"Barack is an extremely intelligent person, but you can't go dancing around here," said Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein, an Orthodox Jew who once shared an office with Obama and wants more specifics on Middle East policies. "People come to me wanting answers, and I try to do my best. He has some more work to do."
Jews make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, but they are well-organized, politically active and concentrated in a handful of key states, including classic swing states such as New Jersey and Florida. In some ways, Obama would seem a natural fit for the Jewish community, which is disproportionately Democratic, liberal and pro-civil rights. And many Jews have indeed been quick to embrace Obama.
All of this leads to this wonderful quote in Kantor's story:
"The fate of the world for the next four years," mused Rabbi Ruvi New as his Sunday morning Kabbalah & Coffee class dispersed in East Boca Raton.
"It's all going to boil down to a few old Jews in Century Village," he added, referring to a nearby retirement community.
The story goes on to list all the reasons Kantor heard from Jewish voters for why Obama made them nervous, from the falsehood that he's Muslim to the sense that he's pro-Palestinian to Israel's detriment. Kantor does a good job of batting down each of those arguments.
But these are the relatively easy issues to deal with. Then there's the issue of race.
Some of the resistance to Mr. Obama's candidacy seems just as rooted in anxiety about race as in anxiety about Israel. At brunch in Boynton Beach, Bob Welstein, who said he was in his 80s, said so bluntly. "Am I semi-racist? Yes," he said.
Decades earlier, on the west side of Chicago, his mother was mugged and beaten by a black assailant, he said. It was "a beautiful Jewish neighborhood" -- until black residents moved in, he said.
There you have it. Obama has wanted to avoid race but race found him. Here's another example from Kantor's story:
Jack Stern, 85, sitting alone at an outdoor café in Aventura on Sunday, said he was no racist. When he was liberated from a concentration camp in 1945, black American soldiers were kinder than white ones, handing out food to the emaciated Jews, he said.
Years later, after he opened a bakery in Brooklyn, "I got disgusted, because they killed Jews," he said, citing neighborhood crimes committed by African-Americans. "I shouldn't say it, but it is what it is," said Mr. Stern, who vowed not to vote for Mr. Obama.
You have to hand it to senior citizens; they often speak their minds far more freely than younger people. You may not like what you hear but it's still important to hear.
It's safe to say it's going to be extremely hard for Obama to turnaround hardened feelings like those displayed by Welstein and Stern, if that's even possible.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/obamas_jewish_problem.html
Obama's Jewish problem includes race
Posted May 22, 2008 9:21 AM
by Frank James
It's becoming ever more clear -- Sen. Barack Obama has substantial problems with Jewish voters but what's unclear is what he can do about it.
The latest evidence for Obama's problem with Jewish voters who have usually been reliably Democratic but have real uncertainties about Obama is an excellent piece in this morning's New York Times by Jodi Kantor.
Kantor talked with Jewish voters in South Florida, many of them liberal Democrats, and found real skepticism about Obama, some of it based on a lack of familiarity with him, some of it on misinformation and some of it on plain old-fashioned racism.
By campaigning heavily in Florida, including flooding the state's airwaves and cable pipes with ads, Obama may be able to do something about Jewish voters who have so far resisted his charms because of their unfamiliarity with him or misinformation. But it's hard to see what such campaigning can do to reverse years of racial suspicions many Jewish voters hold about African-Americans.
Anyway, right from the starting blocks, Kantor's piece captures how difficult things are going to be for Obama as he courts voters who should be behind him but aren't.
"The people here, liberal people, will not vote for Obama because of his attitude towards Israel," Ms. Weitz, 83, said, lingering over brunch.
"They're going to vote for McCain," she said.
Ms. Grossman, 80, agreed with her friend's conclusion, but not her reasoning.
"They'll pick on the minister thing, they'll pick on the wife, but the major issue is color," she said, quietly fingering a coffee cup. Ms. Grossman said she was thinking of voting for Mr. Obama, who is leading in the delegate count for the nomination, as was Ms. Weitz.
But Ms. Grossman does not tell the neighbors. "I keep my mouth shut," she said.
Florida, of course, was the state that put President Bush over the top in 2000 and both Bush and Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, fought hard for it in 2004 with Bush pulling away in the state in the end.
With Sen. John McCain, a Republican with strong appeal to independents, the all-but-official Republican nominee, the general-election race is predicted to be close again and Florida may once again be key.
Which means Jewish voters may be key. As my Chicago Tribune colleague Naftali Bendavid wrote recently, other Democratic candidates have been able to rely on relatively high Jewish support.
Still, Obama's lead among Jewish voters is a smaller margin than other Democratic nominees have enjoyed. And doubts about Obama's stands on Jewish issues and Israel stubbornly persist in segments of the community, in part due to methodical campaigns against him by his conservative critics.
"Barack is an extremely intelligent person, but you can't go dancing around here," said Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein, an Orthodox Jew who once shared an office with Obama and wants more specifics on Middle East policies. "People come to me wanting answers, and I try to do my best. He has some more work to do."
Jews make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, but they are well-organized, politically active and concentrated in a handful of key states, including classic swing states such as New Jersey and Florida. In some ways, Obama would seem a natural fit for the Jewish community, which is disproportionately Democratic, liberal and pro-civil rights. And many Jews have indeed been quick to embrace Obama.
All of this leads to this wonderful quote in Kantor's story:
"The fate of the world for the next four years," mused Rabbi Ruvi New as his Sunday morning Kabbalah & Coffee class dispersed in East Boca Raton.
"It's all going to boil down to a few old Jews in Century Village," he added, referring to a nearby retirement community.
The story goes on to list all the reasons Kantor heard from Jewish voters for why Obama made them nervous, from the falsehood that he's Muslim to the sense that he's pro-Palestinian to Israel's detriment. Kantor does a good job of batting down each of those arguments.
But these are the relatively easy issues to deal with. Then there's the issue of race.
Some of the resistance to Mr. Obama's candidacy seems just as rooted in anxiety about race as in anxiety about Israel. At brunch in Boynton Beach, Bob Welstein, who said he was in his 80s, said so bluntly. "Am I semi-racist? Yes," he said.
Decades earlier, on the west side of Chicago, his mother was mugged and beaten by a black assailant, he said. It was "a beautiful Jewish neighborhood" -- until black residents moved in, he said.
There you have it. Obama has wanted to avoid race but race found him. Here's another example from Kantor's story:
Jack Stern, 85, sitting alone at an outdoor café in Aventura on Sunday, said he was no racist. When he was liberated from a concentration camp in 1945, black American soldiers were kinder than white ones, handing out food to the emaciated Jews, he said.
Years later, after he opened a bakery in Brooklyn, "I got disgusted, because they killed Jews," he said, citing neighborhood crimes committed by African-Americans. "I shouldn't say it, but it is what it is," said Mr. Stern, who vowed not to vote for Mr. Obama.
You have to hand it to senior citizens; they often speak their minds far more freely than younger people. You may not like what you hear but it's still important to hear.
It's safe to say it's going to be extremely hard for Obama to turnaround hardened feelings like those displayed by Welstein and Stern, if that's even possible.