Obama courts Jewish voters, faces challenges

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

As he battles for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama is trying to strengthen his support among Jewish voters and in doing so, is navigating one of the more treacherous paths of Democratic politics.

The challenge of meeting the concerns of the Jewish electorate, a cornerstone of the Democratic base, was evident Tuesday when Mr. Obama was asked at the Democratic debate in Cleveland about Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has endorsed him.

Mr. Obama called Mr. Farrakhan an anti-Semite and denounced his support, but was pressed to go further by his rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, an experienced hand at Democratic politics who herself has been on the defensive with Jewish voters after an encounter in 2000 with Suha Arafat, the wife of the Palestinian leader.

Mr. Obama has also faced criticism over remarks he made about the suffering of Palestinians — remarks he says were incorrectly reported — and about who is advising him on foreign affairs. And he has had to beat back false tales, spread in viral e-mail messages, that he is a Muslim who attended a madrassa in Indonesia as a boy and was sworn into office on the Koran. In fact, he is a Christian who was sworn in on a Bible.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23420101/

[zabet]

1. Any one who says one thing one time and

something different the next is sure
to face challenges on that issue.

"On March 2, 2007 Obama gave a speech at AIPAC, America's pro-Israeli government lobby, wherein he disavowed his previous support for the plight of the Palestinians. In what appears to be a troubling pattern, Obama told his audience what they wanted to hear. He recounted a one-sided history of the region and called for continued military support for Israel, rather than taking the opportunity to promote the various peace movements in and outside of Israel."

http://www.counterpunch.org/gonzalez02292008.html

[JerseygirlCT]

2. You know, a great many of the Jews I know

are quite concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people. They also support Israel's right to exist in peace. It's not an either/or, and all Jews are not *blindly* supportive of Israel. I don't think he has to be, either. That sort of wild-eyed, blind support is more a characteristic of the neo-cons, IME.

[still_one]

4. You are absolutely right, thanks /nt

[aquart]

5. How nice of you to speak for us.

Thanks ever so much.

[JerseygirlCT]

8. Apologies if that's offensive. Those I know would include my

husband and his family, so my family. If it's offensive to offer their views, then I'm sorry.

[DogPoundPup]

9. You shouldn't have to apologize`

Some people feel they own the market on EVERYTHING Funny huh? Some of them need to wake up and realize the world doesn't revolve around satisfying their every little 'need'.

[LeftishBrit]

12. Your post is not exactly crystal clear!!!

I don't see anyone here who thinks they own the market on everything.

[pink-o]

13. So please don't YOU speak for the rest of us.

I'm not in the least offended by any gentile who recognises us as being more than a mass of pro-Israeli jingoism.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Agreed! (speaking for myself and friends and relatives here).

I know Jews to the right of the Likud, and Jews who are ardently pro-Palestinian against Israel; but the views you describe are the commonest among those I know.

For that matter, there is huge diversity of opinion within Israel itself.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Yes, exactly what I hear, as well.

And I do think that there's a large, reasonable center group on this. This just isn't a simple, or black and white, situation with good guys and bad guys. And supporting Israel doesn't always mean supporting everything their current government does. Heck, I surely don't support much my current government does - why should it be different elsewhere? I don't think that means I think the US should be washed into the sea.

Thanks for the support, I do appreciate that!

[DogPoundPup]

3. This article may be helpful if you're hopeful for peace....

The orgy of hate that is "the Muslim smear" is unfolding in real time, and it promises to greatly intensify in a general election. These attacks do not simply "smear Barack's Christian faith," as John Kerry claimed in a campaign mailing. They are an attack on all Muslims, some of whom actually do exercise their rights to cover their heads and send their kids to religious school. Thousands even have the very common name Hussein. All are watching their culture used as a crude bludgeon against Obama, while the candidate who is the symbol of racial harmony fails to defend them. This at a time when US Muslims are bearing the brunt of the Bush Administration's assaults on civil liberties, including dragnet wiretapping, and are facing a documented spike in hate crimes.

Though not nearly enough, Obama says that Muslims are "deserving of respect and dignity."

The core of Obama's candidacy is that he alone--who lived in Indonesia as a boy and has an African grandmother--can "repair the world" after the Bush wrecking ball. That repair job begins with the 1.4 billion Muslims around the world, many of whom are convinced that the U.S. has been waging a war against their faith. This perception is based on facts, among them the fact that Muslim civilians are not counted among the dead in Iraq and Afghanistan; that Islam has been desecrated in US-run prisons;that voting for an Islamic party resulted in collective punishment in Gaza. It is also fueled by the rise of a virulent strain of Islamophobia in Europe and North America.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080317/klein

[aquart]

6. "He alone"

Damn! And here I thought he had a movement.

And if you think the attitude of Muslims toward America is our big problem...And a sanctimonious "I'm Christian! I'm Christian!" is going to fix that...

Then what you are really saying is that Obama's Muslim background IS a major fact to be considered. And that is really how you are selling him. "Smear," my ass. You're bragging about it.

[Ghost Dog]

7. It is undeniable

that many non-Jewish (as well as many Jewish) people in the Israel-Palestine region are getting a raw deal, in which the USA is partly complicit, is it not?

How could this not be part of the contemporary political agenda?

[DogPoundPup]

10. Him with DIPLOMACY, not war

People like you need to learn to communicate without Shrillness.

It's not wise to 'ass'-ume like putting words in peoples posts that WERE NOT written. If this is how you interpret the message, then say so, BUT DON'T TELL ME THIS IS WHAT I SAID WHEN I DIDN'T SAY THAT. Got it? Thanks~

You said: "Then what you are really saying is that Obama's Muslim background"

Strange that you would interpret it that way.

[Peace Patriot]

14. Good God, what a piece of trash reporting this is!

It is mind-bogglingly bad.

Hard to know where to begin, but, first of all, there is this howler: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton...has been on the defensive with Jewish voters after an encounter in 2000 with Suha Arafat, the wife of the Palestinian leader."

Senator Clinton "on the defensive with Jewish voters"? From some murky incident EIGHT YEARS AGO? Really...

:rofl: :wow: :rofl:

Then, they managed to REPEAT every piece of crap lie about Obama, and promulgate them further, and they add on a little tag at the end ("In fact, he is a Christian who was sworn in on a Bible"). Jeez.

This is a HIT PIECE. Its purpose is to further smear Obama with these lies. It has no other purpose.

[Bilbo Heugan]

15. Will he tell them that it's not very nice to hold politicians hostage

as AIPAC does?

[Ian David]

16. Obama has rejected and denoucned Calypso Louie Farrakhan. However...

Hillary hasn't denounced the endorsement of Ann Coulter.

Now, if anyone here gets a chance to talk to Hillary, I will write a denouncement for her to use that you give her.

"I reject and renounce Ann Coulter and everything that she stands for. I don't want her campaigning for me or speaking in favor of me, but I am happy to have her vote-- provided that this time she's actually legally registered."