The Jewish Dilemma of Barack Obama

The Democrats have a Jewish problem, and his name is Barack Obama. Reluctantly, many Jews, loyal Democrats by birth and tradition, have concluded that he’s not The One they thought he was.

With even greater reluctance, the White House has concluded that their Jewish problem is real, growing, and they better do something about it.

Mitt Romney’s dramatic declaration Sunday in Jerusalem that preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon is America’s “highest national security priority” and military force should not be excluded, and that he regards Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel, puts in stark relief the difference between what the two candidates think about America’s only real ally in the Middle East.

Mr. Romney is willing, even eager, to give heartfelt, emphatic, unadulterated, full-throated support for the Jewish state in its hour of greatest peril since the founding. Mr. Obama can’t do that because he doesn’t “feel the love.” He sprang from a culture of radicalism where Israel was regarded as illegitimate, if not evil. He gives the clear impression that he doesn’t like Jews very much.

Mr. Obama repeats only empty, bland assurances that everything is OK, that the friends of Israel shouldn’t worry because the messiah from Chicago is on the watch. U.S.-Israeli ties, he told a rally the other day in Palm Beach, are stronger than ever. That’s bunk, as Sen. John McCain bluntly told a television interviewer: “Everybody knows that relations with Israel have never been worse.”

Bland assurances are no longer enough to satisfy betrayed true believers; the monolithic Jewish support for Democrats, any Democrat, is fraying around the edges. Merely telling skeptical and suspicious Jewish voters not to believe their own eyes and ears is no longer effective. No one expects Mitt Romney to win a majority of Jewish voters on Nov. 6, or anything close to it. He doesn’t have to. If he can peel away three or four percentage points in certain swing states, particularly Florida and Ohio, that would change the game.

John McCain spent a lot of time, attention and money to attempt this four years ago. George W. Bush made such an attempt in 2004. Neither worked. But 2012 is a different ball game.

Jewish voters, like others of various passions and persuasions, have had four years to confront buyer’s remorse. Four years of Barack Obama have taught even slow learners to pay attention.

The proof is that a group of the slow learners, Jewish liberals still in love with Mr. Obama even if he isn’t in love with them, are putting together a campaign to answer the Republican Jewish Coalition’s successful work to get the friends of Israel to wake up and sniff the odor of harsh reality. This is not, a Democratic operative told Politico, the Capitol Hill daily, a case of Obama being “swift boated.” Nobody is telling stories about the president. His Jewish critics are merely laying out what everybody who has been half-awake during the past four years already knows.

Aaron David Miller, who has worked for several Democratic presidents over a quarter of a century, warns Democrats of “turbulence ahead” in a commentary in Foreign Policy magazine that has shaken up Jewish assumptions. “I’ve watched a few presidents come and go on this issue,” he writes, “and Obama really is different. Unlike [Bill] Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama isn’t in love with the idea of Israel. He has a harder time making allowances for Israeli behavior he doesn’t like. . . the president doesn’t emote on many policy issues, with the possible exception of health care. But on Israel, he just doesn’t buy the ‘tiny state living on the knife’s edge with the dark past’ argument.”

Alas, the knife’s edge is exactly where Israel lives, like it or not, and Israel must act accordingly. Mitt Romney, like his constituents – some Jewish, most not, and many of them evangelical Christians – understands that. Mr. Romney, like that constituency, is not embarrassed to “emote” about it. Barack Obama can’t “emote” because to him Israel is not a natural friend and ally, bound to America by considerations of blood, faith and circumstance, but a nuisance. Why can’t Israel just go away? This is hard for Jews, who have been voting Democratic since their grandfathers rallied to FDR and the New Deal, to accept as the new reality. It has been easier to pretend there’s no problem. But now there is a problem, and it’s too big to hide with convenient pretense.

Why don't Jews vote Republican? Its the Jesus Christ

" Medved nails it when he says "The answer is that distinctive religious attitudes among Jews play a greater role in shaping voting behavior than ideology, education levels, income, or any sense of ethnic solidarity.[..] "The voting behavior of American Jews conforms closely to the preferences of the irreligious and the unaffiliated precisely because so many of them are, in fact, theologically unaffiliated. He goes on to say that Jews "cringe" at the thought of a believer in Jesus Christ becoming President. They will never get in bed with Christ believers no matter how much they love and want to protect Israel. This is in fact visceral for them. Secular Jews have no trouble embracing Muslims, who hate and kill Jews, but don't believe in Jesus Christ. "

I greatly respect Michael Medved, and I believe he is about 90% correct in his assertion. Now, is Romney a Christian? No. The beliefs of Mormons are just that - Mormonism. They are 180 degrees out of shift with Biblical Christianity. Will that matter to many Jewish voters?

No.

People MUST understand this; to many Jewish voters (clearly the majority), here is the equation that matter above all else:

Republicans = Jesus' Followers

And that's it. Nothing else matters to them. Not Israel, not economics, nothing.

I love the Jewish people. I have never felt more at "home" than when included in a big family Jewish wedding. I love Israel. The Jews have contributed more to science, medicine, philioiphy, physics, ehemistry, mathematics, law, and literature than any other people on the face of the earth.

But, for the majority, Christ remains the great stumbling block that they cannot overcome.

Why don't Jews vote Republican? Its the Jesus Christ...

Respectfully,but having many years behind me as a Jew, and naturally with lots of Jewish relatives and friends over the years, that is absolute hogwash.

Also for you to extrapolate Medved's comments into your own distorted analysis is unconscionable.

As to the questions will Jews care about Romney's Mormonism? For most, about as much as you would care about whether a Jewish candidate is Reform or Conservative. Yes, I know many Christians don't consider Mormonism Christian but the point is I really couldn't care less.

This is also a generational issue. Younger Jews are far more likely to be Republican than their parents and grandparents because they have no memory of either Roosevelt or the radio evangelists of that time. The Father Coughlin’s and Aimee McPherson's were very scary to Jews. Also, don't forget how some Baptist groups tried a decade ago to organize a ‘Jewish conversion’ period. These are the things that drive Jews bonkers. The best way for evangelicals to sway Jews to be Republican is to NOT TRY TO CONVERT THEM. Then the natural alliance of Judeo-Christian values and beliefs can flourish side-by-side. When you attempt to convert you are basically saying you are not worthy of our support.

Respectfully, before you use words such as "hogwash", "distorted", and "extrapolate" - it would be wise to at least read the very words of Michael Medved quoted in the link.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2811449/posts

This isn't something I made up.

The facts here vis a vis what Medved said are not even in a gray area. There can be no confusing what his opinions are on this matter. I didn't "distort" or "extrapolate" anything.

I linked to a FR thread that discussed this, and within that thread is a link to Medved's original thesis.

What gives? If Israel isn't the factor that impels most Jews to vote differently from their Christian neighbors, then what is? The answer is that distinctive religious attitudes among Jews play a greater role in shaping voting behavior than ideology, education levels, income, or any sense of ethnic solidarity. The most recent National Jewish Population Survey found only 27% of American Jews attending synagogue even once a month, compared with Gallup polls showing 53% of Americans in general (and 61% of Republicans) who attend church at least that regularly. Only 59% of American Jews bother to fast on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, compared with the more than 95% of Christians who say they celebrate Christmas. By every measure, American Jews are less involved with religious organizations and observance than their Catholic or Protestant neighbors. As Gallup regularly reports, religious outlook plays a profound role in shaping political preferences. In 2008, those who attended religious services every week gave McCain a big advantage of 12 percentage points while those declaring they "never" attended church (16% of the population) went for Obama by an even more lopsided margin: 67% to 30%. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Jewish community, where only a minority chooses to worship even monthly, mirrors the political attitudes of the secular community of "no affiliation" far more closely than it reflects the outlook of any other religious faith. The voting behavior of American Jews conforms closely to the preferences of the irreligious and the unaffiliated precisely because so many of them are, in fact, theologically unaffiliated. This means that Republican identification as the more viscerally, consistently pro-Israel party won't attract American Jews as powerfully as they'll feel repelled by the GOP image as the more outspokenly religious party — and particularly the political home of enthusiastic Christian Evangelicals. Given their prevailing disconnection from observance or religious affirmation, many Jews characterize themselves not by what they believe but what they don't believe: We're not Christians. This is the single shared religious conviction (or non-conviction) connecting secular atheists such as Woody Allen and Orthodox believers such as Joe Lieberman. It's also why "Jews for Jesus" or self-styled "Messianic Jews" are ultimate outcasts in the Jewish world, recognized by no mainstream organizations. By embracing Christian doctrine, such groups defy the very essence of Jewishness for big majorities of American Jews who maintain no affiliation with religious institutions, but nonetheless reject claims of Christ's divinity.

Gee, a lot of ambiguity by Medved there, right? I mean, I "distorted" and "extrapolated" what he said about Christ being the issue among Jews, didn't I? No, I didn't.

Medved went on to say:

"When Pastor Robert Jeffress told the Values Voter Summit last month that he preferredRick Perry because the Texas governor was "a genuine follower of Jesus Christ," Jewish voters cringed, understandably. Jeffress' formulation for an ideal candidate might have left Mormons out (a matter of hot dispute, depending on whether Mormonism counts as a form of Christianity), but it most certainly excluded Jews like me. Such incidents leave many Jews poised to vote on fears of Christian intolerance rather than hopes of Christian love for Israel."

As to the issue of Mormonism, you said you don't care less - but that point is essential among Christians. To many Jews, Mormonism is simply another "He's Not-Jewish" category - but to Christians, Mormonism is an apostate cult. Even Medved addresses the issue of Mormonism being rejected by many Christians in his article.

As an Evangelical Christian, I am on your side. I am on Israel's side. I am on the side of Jews against Islam. I am gladly on the side of Jehovah who made a covenant with the Jewish people that is still valid today.

However, it is clear that many, many Jews reject Republicans because they associate Republicans with following Yeshua, who they reject as the Messiah.

One of the greatest Jewish men to ever walk this planet was Paul - who became the greatest Christian evangelist the world has ever known. He wrote:

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." 1 Corinthians 1:23

This isn't something I made up.

Well, we could start with the 'clearly a majority'

People MUST understand this; to many Jewish voters (clearly the majority), here is the equation that matter above all else:

Someone just posted that Medved's suggestions are bizarre. I agree completely. Listening to conversations on politics and Judaism through multiple family generations and never having heard anything like this being sentiment being expressed, I indeed find them bizarre.

Not only anecdotally. Steyn did a piece on this subject a while ago that was more on the mark. Norman Podhoretz has a thoughtful analysis also in a new book. Why are Jews Liberals. Daniel Greenfield has written on the subject a number of times. None of them agree either. Indeed, a bizarre theory, especially the suggestion that it's applicable to the majority of Jews.

I understand you feel you are 'on my side'. I feel you are too, but I wonder if you have ever talked to a Jewish person - even here on FR about this, - ever experienced anyone actually expressing this sentiment.

I think a big part of the distrust and nervousness Medved espouses is due to history.

Just like many American Blacks can’t seem to get over the “effects” of slavery, even though they may never have experienced slavery themselves, American Jews seem to have a “racial memory” of historical mistreatment by Christians, and this will probably be the case for a couple more generations, but as was mentioned, younger Jews tend to be more open-minded.

The problem has been that many European Jewish immigrants have handed down their stories of mistreatment by Christians, Catholics, or Russian Orthodox, though for some reason, they overlook the communists. I recall my grandfather telling me to never trust a Christian, and that was directly from his experiences in Poland and Russia around the turn of the century, before the Russian Revolution.

Mark

"Bizzare." Why bizarre? I think Medved's rationale and thought process was well laid out, well presented, and based on a logical foundation.

Well, we could start with the 'clearly a majority'

Clearly a majority of Jewish voters support liberalism and reject Republicans (both through financial support and in the ballot box).

Why is it so hard to accept a direct correlation between a rejection of Republican candidates (by the majority of Jewish voters), and the established history and fact of Jewish apprehension regarding Christ and Christianity?

I have spoken to some of my Jewish friends and work colleagues about this very subject. Here is my experience (and note - I am clearly saying this is my own take from my own observations). Among the more devout "religious" Jews (i.e. those who attended Synagogue regularly, read the Torah, knew the Rabbi personally, etc) - among those Jews I have found them much more agreeable towards Christianity and Christians. Medved himself is very agreeable towards his Christian callers and guests. Is being a Jew ethnic or religious? I believe it is clearly both. Those Jews who are Jew by ethnicity but completely reject Judaism and are themselves openly atheistic or secular express much more hostility towards the notion that Christ is the Messiah but embrace the notion that Christians are out to harm the Jewish people.

I would say you and I can agree to disagree on this.

For the most part, I don't peruse threads here to engage in open war with Jews. To the contrary. The Jewish people and Israel in particular are today under siege by the Obamas, the Muslims, and the generally evil segments of our world. One only has to read the torture that Jewish hostages endured during the attacks in India several years ago to realize we are dealing with pure evil at work.

One thing I will mention. I was attending a large dinner party last week. The lady across from me was an Italian-American. Italians are wonderful supporters of the family concept. They simply revel in each other. She mentioned that only the Jewish people seem to exceed that notion of communal love within their own. I can attest to this. I once attended a Hawaiian luau party, and was "adopted" by a group of Jewish tourists (from the states and Israel). I have rarely experienced such gracious and unabashed friendship from people that I hardly knew.

In my opinion, if it were not for Israel and the Jewish people, there would be no "Western Civilization." Why is the notion of Western Civilization so superior to all others? I believe it is because of God's blessing.

This is hard for Jews, who have been voting Democratic since their grandfathers rallied to FDR

Which shows the absurdity and self-destructiveness of the "average" Jew living in the middle part of the 20th century. Though FDR was probably quite careful in how he dealt with "the Jewish Question", some of the people he surrounded himself with during the White House years were quite apparent in their feelings on the matter.

For those of you in Rio Linda, check out Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

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