Jewish Dems Losing Faith in Obama

8/6/2019 Jewish Dems Losing Faith in Obama

1/4

Jewish Dems losing faith in ObamaBy: Ben SmithJune 29, 2011 04:32 AM EDT

David Ainsman really began to get worried about PresidentBarack Obama

s standing with hisfellow Jewish Democrats when a recent dinner with his wife and two other couples allObama voters in 2008 nearly turned into a screaming match.

Ainsman, a prominent Democratic lawyer and Pittsburgh Jewish community leader, wastrying to explain that Obama had just been offering Israel a bit of tough love in his May 19speech on the Arab Spring. His friends disagreed to say the least.

One said he had the sense that Obama took the opportunity to throw Israel under thebus. Another, who swore he wasnt getting his information from the mutually despised FoxNews, admitted hed lost faith in the president.

If several dozen interviews with POLITICO are any indication, a similar conversation istaking place in Jewish communities across the country. Obamas speech last month seemsto have crystallized the doubts many pro-Israel Democrats had about Obama in 2008 in away that could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 and will notbe easy to repair. (See also: President Obama's Middle East speech: Details complicate 'simple'message)

Its less something specific than that these incidents keep on coming, said Ainsman.

The immediate controversy sparked by the speech was Obamas statement that Israelshould embrace the countrys 1967 borders, with land swaps, as a basis for peace talks.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized on the first half of that phrase and the threat ofa return to what Israelis sometimes refer to as Auschwitz borders. (Related: Obama defendsborder policy)

Obamas Jewish allies stressed the second half: that land swaps would as Americannegotiators have long contemplated give Israel security in its narrow middle, and thedeal would give the country international legitimacy and normalcy.

But the noisy fray after the speech mirrored any number of smaller controversies. Politicallyhawkish Jews and groups such as the Republican Jewish Coalition and the EmergencyCommittee for Israel pounded Obama in news releases. White House surrogates and

staffers defended him, as did the plentiful American Jews who have long wanted the WhiteHouse to lean harder on Israels conservative government.

Based on the conversations with POLITICO, its hard to resist the conclusion that somekind of tipping point has been reached.

Most of those interviewed were center-left American Jews and Obama supporters andmany of them Democratic donors. On some core issues involving Israel, theyre well to theleft of Netanyahu and many Americans: They refer to the West Bank, not to Judea andSamaria, fervently supported the Oslo peace process and Israels unilateral withdrawal

h Dems losing faith in Obama - POLITICO.com Print View http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=CCC173C6-27F6-4C

6/29/2011


2/4

from Gaza and believe in the urgency of creating a Palestinian state. (Arena: Are Jewish votersstill pro-Obama?)

But they are also fearful for Israel at a moment of turmoil in a hostile region when themoderate Palestinian Authority is joining forces with the militantly anti-Israel Hamas.

Its a hot time, because Israel is isolated in the world and, in particular, with the Obamaadministration putting pressure on Israel, said Rabbi Neil Cooper, leader of Temple Beth

Hillel-Beth El in Philadelphias Main Line suburbs, who recently lectured his large,politically connected congregation on avoiding turning Israel into a partisan issue.

Some of these traditional Democrats now say, to their own astonishment, that theyllconsider voting for a Republican in 2012. And many of those who continue to supportObama said they find themselves constantly on the defensive in conversations withfriends.

Im hearing a tremendous amount of skittishness from pro-Israel voters who voted forObama and now are questioning whether they did the right thing or not, said BetsySheerr, the former head of an abortion-rights-supporting, pro-Israel PAC in Philadelphia,

who said she continues to support Obama, with only mild reservations. Im hearing a lot ofOh, if wed only elected Hillary instead.

Even Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who spoketo POLITICO to combat the story line of Jewish defections, said shed detected a level ofanxiety in a recent visit to a senior center in her South Florida district.

They wanted some clarity on the presidents view, she said. I answered their questionsand restored some confidence that maybe was a little shaky, [rebutted] misinformation andthe inaccurate reporting about what was said.

Wasserman Schultz and other top Democrats say the storm will pass. (Related: DebbieWasserman Schultz: Jewish voters will stick with Obama)

They point out to anyone who will listen that beyond the difficult personal relationship ofObama and Netanyahu, beyond a tense, stalled peace process, theres a litany of goodnews for supporters of Israel: Military cooperation is at an all-time high; Obama hassupplied Israel with a key missile defense system; the U.S. boycotted an anti-racismconference seen as anti-Israel; and America is set to spend valuable international politicalcapital beating back a Palestinian independence declaration at the United Nations inSeptember.

The qualms that many Jewish Democrats express about Obama date back to hisemergence onto the national scene in 2007. Though he had warm relations with ChicagosJewish community, he had also been friends with leading Palestinian activists, unusual inthe Democratic establishment. And though he seemed to be trying to take a conventionallypro-Israel stand, he was a novice at the complicated politics of the America-Israelrelationship, and his sheer inexperience showed at times.

At the 2007 AIPAC Policy Conference, Obama professed his love for Israel but thenseemed, - to some who were there for his informal talk - to betray a kind of naivete aboutthe conflict between Israel and the Palestinians: The biggest enemy he said, using thesame rhetoric he applied to American politics, was not just terrorists, its not just


6/29/2011


3/4


4/4

activists who spoke to POLITICO are largely die-hard Democrats, few of whom have evercast a vote for a Republican to be president. Does the new wave of Jewish angst matter?

One place it might is fundraising. Many of the Clinton-era Democratic mega-donors whomake Israel their key issue, the most prominent of whom is the Los Angeles Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban, never really warmed to Obama, though Saban says hewill vote for the Democrat and write him a check if asked.

A top-dollar Washington fundraiser aimed at Jewish donors in Miami last week raised morethan $1 million from 80 people, and while one prominent Jewish activist said the DNC hadto scramble to fill seats, seven-figure fundraisers are hard to sneer at.

Even people writing five-figure checks to Obama, though, appeared in need of a bit ofbucking up.

We were very reassured, Randi Levine, who attended the event with her husband,Jeffrey, a New York real estate developer, told POLITICO.

Philadelphia Jewish Democrats are among the hosts of another top-dollar event June 30.

David Cohen, a Comcast executive and former top aide to former Gov. Ed Rendell, saidquestions about Obamas position on Israel have been a regular, if not dominant, feature ofhis attempts to recruit donors.

I takes me about five minutes of talking through the presidents position and thepresidents speech, and the uniform reaction has been, I guess youre right, thats not howI saw it covered, he said.

Others involved in the Philadelphia event, however, said they think Jewish doubts aretaking a fundraising toll.

Were going to raise a ton of money, but I dont know if were going to hit our goals, saidDaniel Berger, a lawyer who is firmly in the peace camp and said he blamed thecontroversy on Netanyahus intransigence.

2011 POLITICO LLC


6/29/2011

Documents

Jewish Dems Losing Faith in Obama