Massachusetts Democratic Jews Confident in Obama

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. (Photo: obama.senate.gov)

The following article originally appeared in TheJewishAdvocate.com under the title and sub-heads:

"Obama now looks to secure Clinton's Jewish constituents
Barack Obama
Pro-Israel record will reassure wary voters, Democrats say"

When Barack Obama clinched the nomination for the Democratic Party last week [on June 2, 2008], Hillary Clinton's Jewish supporters were forced to reassess their allegiances.

But despite an often bitter primary season - one in which critics from both parties questioned Obama's stance on Israel and Middle East affairs - local Democratic leaders are confident the Illinois senator can secure the Jewish vote.

"A lot of Jewish voters will take their cue from Hillary, and I expect that will eventually bring the vast majority of Clinton supporters on board with Obama," said Steve Grossman, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and one of Clinton's top Massachusetts fundraisers. "I expect overwhelming [Jewish] support for him on election day."

Although Clinton won the Massachusetts primary by a wide margin, Obama carried the state's Jewish vote 52-48 percent. He also received broad support from Jews across the country.

Clinton, who has consistently fared well among Jewish voters, pledged her support for the Illinois senator last Saturday [June 7] and urged her constituents to do the same. Her statement came just days after she and Obama addressed 7,000 delegates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., where she lauded Obama's pro-Israel stance.

Obama took the opportunity to reassure voters of his commitment to the Jewish State.

"We know that the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and decades of patient work," he told the crowd. "But 60 years later, we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security."

The senator again refuted claims made in slanderous e-mails sent to the Jewish community that insinuated he has ties to Islamic extremism. And he clarified his policies on pressing for "aggressive" diplomacy with Iran, offering the caveat that he would "always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel."

"There is no greater threat to Israel - or to the peace and stability of the region - than Iran," he said.

Grossman, who served as president of AIPAC for four years, said Obama's speech went a long way toward mitigating the fears of Jews who were unfamiliar with his positions.

The AIPAC crowd responded with several rounds of ovations, a clear indication that the pro-Israel community is on board with Obama, according to Alan Solomont, a Massachusetts entrepreneur and a leading fundraiser in Obama's Bay State campaign.

"He hit it out of the park," Solomont said. "AIPAC knows better than [anyone] what Obama's voting record is in terms of Israel, and they have consistently validated the fact that he is a strong supporter."

Solomont noted that Obama has always stood behind Israel's right to defend itself. During the 2006 war with Lebanon, he urged Israel to resist calls for a ceasefire until it had eliminated the threat from Hezbollah. The Illinois senator also pressed the European Union to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and has cosponsored bills calling for continued sanctions against Iran.

But some are concerned about Obama's ability to make good on his pro-Israel pledge.

"The bottom line is that how serious or real the commitments he made at AIPAC really are is something that nobody knows, including Obama himself," said the Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff. "He may know what he means but won't really know until he is actually in office whether or not he wants to, or can, follow through."

Obama was also criticized by the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America shortly after he clarified his statement that Jerusalem would remain the "undivided" capital of Israel.

"Obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues," Obama told CNN the day after his AIPAC address. "And Jerusalem will be a part of these negotiations. My belief is that as a practical matter, [dividing Jerusalem] would be very difficult to execute. And I think that it is smart for us to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in old Jerusalem. But Israel has a legitimate claim on that city."

Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC, called the senator's remarks an indication of "why the Jewish community has doubts and fears about an Obama presidency." The OU offered a much more benign criticism, urging the senator to consider previous failed attempts to share sovereignty.

Despite the debate over Obama's stance on Israel, however, political experts agree that he will win the majority of votes in the Jewish community, a group that has historically voted Democratic.

According to the American Jewish Committee's 2007 Annual Survey, 84 percent of American Jews currently identify themselves as either Democrats or Independents, while only 15 percent identify themselves as Republican.

The senator's candidacy has also been an inspiration to Israelis, according to Shai Feldman, an Israeli citizen and director of Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

"Israelis have a sense of envy about this young, dynamic and charismatic politician, something Israel has not experienced in a long time" Feldman said. "They were equally impressed by his performance at the AIPAC conference and have confidence in the durability of U.S.-Israel relations."

Feldman's sentiment was not shared by Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of the Jerusalem Post.

"Whether or not Barack Obama can become the darling of Israelis remains to be seen, but for the moment that prospect is a long way off," Rosenblatt wrote in his editorial last week.

But for Obama, the process of courting American Jewish voters has already begun. And as his campaign returns to New York and the delegate-rich swing states of Florida, Nevada and Ohio, the support of Clinton's established Jewish constituency will be an invaluable asset.

"Hillary Clinton had strong support in the Jewish community, but people will learn how close Obama is to the Jewish community and how strong his support for Israel is," said Solomont. "People are very responsive when provided with the facts, and unless they have a political axe to grind, they take comfort when you show them the truth."

Source: TheJewishAdvocate.com

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