I am loath to join the members of the inside-the-beltway commentariat who spend every day frothing at the mouth over the latest poll or political development that supposedly either portends Obama’s doom or reaffirms his messianic stature.
But I simply cannot remain above the latest fray in this respect. Because there seems to be rare consensus among these blathering weather vanes that the election of one Republican on Tuesday, in a heavily Jewish district of New York, indicates that Jews are turning against Obama the way blue-collar (Reagan) Democrats turned against Jimmy Carter.
In fact, no less a Democratic Oracle than James Carville had all of Washington shouting “Amens” yesterday with the publication of a commentary in which he warns that it’s time for all Democrats, including the president, to “panic”.
With all due respect to Mr Carville, however, this smacks of the same hysterical reasoning that had him and other pundits declaring Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee and putative next president of the United States at this point in the 2008 presidential cycle.
Not to mention the absurdity of anyone prescribing political action for Obama’s reelection based on the myopic voting of a group of misinformed and misguided Jews in one small district of New York. Especially since these Jews are not even representative of the wider Jewish population among whom “Obama still remains popular” – according to a Gallup survey published just this week.
The consensus view is that these Jews voted against the Democratic candidate in this special election – to replace disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner – as a means of venting dissatisfaction with Obama’s equivocation on defending Israel. Yet no less a person than Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, is on record saying that, far from equivocating, Obama has “deepened the military cooperation between the United States and Israel”.
We just have a lot of people lying about the president’s record, and we have to push back on it. The president has a rock-solid record on Israel, and because we’re going to convey that in a detailed way, we’re going to get an overwhelming majority [of the Jewish vote] again.
(Representative Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, New York Times, September 14, 2011)
In other words this is just the latest example of a few American Jews (and their right-wing Christian enablers) presuming to know more about, and have greater concern for, the security of Israel than the Jews who actually live there….
As for what Tuesday’s special election portends for Obama, all you need to know is that the number of Jews who will vote for a Republican candidate next year as a means of venting dissatisfaction with Obama is in direct proportion to the number of Christian Conservatives who believe that the Jews really are God’s chosen people, who must renounce their Jewish faith and become Christians in order to make it into heaven. They’re all nuts … and are motivated, in this context, by one thing: a visceral, racist hatred of Barack Hussein Obama!
Thankfully, these Jews constitute a tiny minority of the greater Jewish population, just as these Christian Conservatives constitute a tiny minority of the Republican Party.
In any case, this admittedly beleaguered president would do well to ignore advice based on their dissatisfaction with him, because the Obama Jews will vote for him in droves.
Obama is clearly convinced that maintaining his reasonable, pragmatic approach will redound to his and the Democrats’ favor in November 2012 when voters have their next opportunity to decide who should be kicked out of office for turning Washington into such a dysfunctional mess. I agree.
(In support of Barack Obama…, The iPINIONS Journal, August 12, 2011)
Now, since it would be wrong of me to leave the impression that none of those Amens was warranted, Carville also said the following:
I … shudder at the thought of one of these creationism-loving, global-warming denying, immigration bashing, Social-Security cutting, clean-air hating, mortality-fascinated, Wall-Street protecting Republicans running my country.
(Carville, CNN, September 15, 2011)
To which even I said a very spirited, Amen!
Related commentaries:
In support of Obama…
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.