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FYI: It’s not all about Israel
Posted By katie allison granju
Blogger Silence Isn’t Golden says Bill Hobbs has it wrong in figuring out whether Jews should or will support Obama:
It is not enough, when you’re talking about Jewish voters, to just brag about your record on Israel. That might be good enough for the single-digit percentage of Jewish Republicans who have a vested interest in driving a wedge in the rest of the Jewish community, and it might be good enough for the media, who paint us as single-issue voters for simplicity’s sake. It also may be good enough for a few Jewish “leaders” who are too afriad of sacrificing their political positions to hold candidates accountable on any issue but Israel.
But for the rest of us, it’s not enough. And Obama gets that. So Bill Hobbs, you can keep talking all you want about how Jews should vote for the Republicans because they’re “better on Israel” (even though what they are is better on the Likud vision for Israel, not Israel as a whole), but I’ll vote for Obama because he’s better on ALL issues of importance to Jews. He proved that with his answer on the civil rights movement.
The relationship between Jews and African-Americans was so strong during the civil rights movement. I’ve often heard the story of 19 rabbis coming to Alabama in 1963 from all over the country to participate in the Birmingham campaign with Dr. King, stating in no uncertain terms that after the atrocities of the Holocaust, Jews could not keep silent over the injustices of Jim Crow. But for a variety of reasons, that relationship has weakened over the past few decades.
I truly believe that Obama can be the one who will rebuild that bond. He can bring together two groups who should be natural allies in the fight against discrimination and injustice.
And maybe I am just part of “the cult”, but this answer confirmed for me why I, as a Jewish-American, would follow Barack Obama to the ends of the earth.
Feb 27th, 2008
