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February 1, 2008, 9:41 am Clinton, Obama and the Jews
By Glenn Collins
The notion that New York’s Jewish electorate could be easily characterized has long been debatable. But the looming primary election on Tuesday is raising new speculation about how strongly Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will appeal to Jewish Democrats.
“I don’t speak for the Jewish community,” said former Mayor Edward I. Koch, “and nobody speaks for the Jewish community. The Jews, individually, speak for themselves.”
And though these days he, himself, is speaking up for Senator Clinton, Mr. Koch acknowledges that “lots of people — Jews and others — will be voting for Barack.”
Indeed, “it’s almost an embarrassment of riches for the Jewish voter,” said Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “Perhaps there is a certain amount of distress that they have to choose between the two, because they are both enormously appealing to the Jewish community.”
He added: “It is a very exciting time for us, because I think the Jewish primary vote in the New York area is up for grabs in the next five days.”
To Sid Davidoff, a senior partner at one of New York’s largest lobbying firms who is not working for either of the campaigns, “I think there is going to be a split between established older voters in the Jewish community, with whom Hillary will do well, and younger and more liberal Jews who see Obama as an agent of change.”
Although it would seem likely that Senator Clinton might capture the lioness’s share of voters in her stronghold state, including Jews, even the slightest shift in Jewish support is a subject of interest. Some local blogs recently claimed that Councilman Simcha Felder of Brooklyn had switched his support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama.
A spokesman for the councilman, Eric Kuo, said Thursday that Mr. Felder has not campaigned for either candidate, or previously announced support. Then, during a radio show on Tuesday night, according to Mr. Kuo, the councilman said he would be voting for Senator Obama.
An important reason for such intense scrutiny is that “the Jewish community tends to vote, and make contributions, far in excess of its proportion of the population,” said Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of Jewish Week, the nation’s largest Jewish weekly.
Not everyone is being swept away by the primary deadline, of course.
“Generally speaking, I am suspicious of all politicians on the Jewish issue,” said Marvin Kitman, a media critic for The Huffington Post. “With friends like them we don’t need enemies. The basic question we of the Hebrew persuasion tend to ask on all issues, whether it is the Giants in the Super Bowl, or Amy Winehouse, or global warming, is: Is it good or bad for the Jews?”
Earlier this week, attempting to make it clear that he is good for the Jews, Senator Obama answered questions from reporters at Jewish news outlets in a conference call, attempting to counter concerns about his positions on issues such as his hope for a dialogue with Iran. He said the control of nuclear weapons by Iran would be a threat to Israeli and United States interests. He added that he had long spoken against anti-Semitism, and had always denounced the views of Louis Farrakhan.
In the Senate, Senator Obama backed Israel during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in the Monday conference call he said that Palestinians must control terrorist activity and violent anti-Israel actions before Israel should make concessions.
Both senators “are supportive of Israel, and few question that,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nonprofit group that promotes consensus among Jewish groups and oversees the Israel Advocacy Initiative, that tries to communicate pro-Israel views.
The American Jewish Committee and other Jewish groups have attacked a campaign of e-mails that made false claims that Senator Obama was, among other things, a secret Muslim. (He is a Christian who has attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago since the 1980s.)
“I think Obama has dealt effectively with those rumors that he is really a secret agent,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
And to Rabbi Hirsch, “Most Jews are too sophisticated to fall for that garbage,” he said, adding: “It’s almost embarrassing that there would be an attempt to sway us in that manner.”
As for Senator Clinton, “I don’t think the Suha issue has any resonance anymore,” Mr. Koch said. In 1999, Mrs. Clinton attended an event in Ramallah where the wife of Yasir Arafat, Suha, accused Israel of poisoning Palestinian women and children with toxic gases. Mrs. Clinton listened with obvious discomfort but left politely, giving Mrs. Arafat a kiss.
Mrs. Arafat’s remarks were denounced by Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel, and in New York, Mrs. Clinton was criticized in newspaper editorials and by several groups for her silence and the kiss. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, then a possible Senate candidate, sharply attacked her.
Mr. Koch added: “I said that Suha wasn’t an issue in a Hillary commercial then, and I’d say it again in a commercial now if she asked me.”
Both Senators are still looking for endorsements, and hoping that the ones they have will influence Tuesday’s vote. “Both Hillary and Obama have prominent people in the Jewish community supporting them,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
Aside from Mr. Koch, prominent Jewish politicians supporting Mrs. Clinton include New York’s other senator, Charles E. Schumer; Senator Dianne Feinstein of California; and Representatives Gary L. Ackerman of Queens, Eliot L. Engel of the Bronx, Jerrold L. Nadler of Manhattan, Anthony D. Weiner of Queens and Brooklyn.
Among Senator Obama’s political supporters are several Jewish members of Congress: Representatives Steve Rothman of New Jersey, Adam B. Schiff of California, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Robert Wexler of Florida.
Although the candidates have focused on public appearances in other states, “my sense is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for both candidates in the Jewish community, and that both represent an important breakthrough in American political and social life,” Rabbi Hirsch said.
He added: “The community was disproportionately active in favor of the civil-rights movement, and so the prospect of an African American president is enormously moving for the Jewish community. But then, the prospect of a woman president is also very moving for the Jewish community.”
In the American Jewish Committee’s national Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 70 percent of Jewish Democrats said they had a favorable opinion of Senator Clinton, in comparison with 45 percent for Senator Obama. The telephone poll last November studied 1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents in a sample that had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
A victory in New York’s Jewish community for Senator Obama would be remarkable. “In the Chicago community Jewish voters know Obama well and like him,” said Malcolm I. Hoenlein, vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization that focuses on Jewish issues. “But in New York, Jewish voters don’t know him well.”
None would predict who would sway Jewish voters on Tuesday. “I think that the Jewish vote is supporting Hillary at this point,” Mr. Davidoff said. “But Obama has the buzz. And with the primary less than a week away, this is very volatile.”
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By Glenn Collins
The notion that New York’s Jewish electorate could be easily characterized has long been debatable. But the looming primary election on Tuesday is raising new speculation about how strongly Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will appeal to Jewish Democrats.
“I don’t speak for the Jewish community,” said former Mayor Edward I. Koch, “and nobody speaks for the Jewish community. The Jews, individually, speak for themselves.”
And though these days he, himself, is speaking up for Senator Clinton, Mr. Koch acknowledges that “lots of people — Jews and others — will be voting for Barack.”
Indeed, “it’s almost an embarrassment of riches for the Jewish voter,” said Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “Perhaps there is a certain amount of distress that they have to choose between the two, because they are both enormously appealing to the Jewish community.”
He added: “It is a very exciting time for us, because I think the Jewish primary vote in the New York area is up for grabs in the next five days.”
To Sid Davidoff, a senior partner at one of New York’s largest lobbying firms who is not working for either of the campaigns, “I think there is going to be a split between established older voters in the Jewish community, with whom Hillary will do well, and younger and more liberal Jews who see Obama as an agent of change.”
Although it would seem likely that Senator Clinton might capture the lioness’s share of voters in her stronghold state, including Jews, even the slightest shift in Jewish support is a subject of interest. Some local blogs recently claimed that Councilman Simcha Felder of Brooklyn had switched his support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama.
A spokesman for the councilman, Eric Kuo, said Thursday that Mr. Felder has not campaigned for either candidate, or previously announced support. Then, during a radio show on Tuesday night, according to Mr. Kuo, the councilman said he would be voting for Senator Obama.
An important reason for such intense scrutiny is that “the Jewish community tends to vote, and make contributions, far in excess of its proportion of the population,” said Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of Jewish Week, the nation’s largest Jewish weekly.
Not everyone is being swept away by the primary deadline, of course.
“Generally speaking, I am suspicious of all politicians on the Jewish issue,” said Marvin Kitman, a media critic for The Huffington Post. “With friends like them we don’t need enemies. The basic question we of the Hebrew persuasion tend to ask on all issues, whether it is the Giants in the Super Bowl, or Amy Winehouse, or global warming, is: Is it good or bad for the Jews?”
Earlier this week, attempting to make it clear that he is good for the Jews, Senator Obama answered questions from reporters at Jewish news outlets in a conference call, attempting to counter concerns about his positions on issues such as his hope for a dialogue with Iran. He said the control of nuclear weapons by Iran would be a threat to Israeli and United States interests. He added that he had long spoken against anti-Semitism, and had always denounced the views of Louis Farrakhan.
In the Senate, Senator Obama backed Israel during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in the Monday conference call he said that Palestinians must control terrorist activity and violent anti-Israel actions before Israel should make concessions.
Both senators “are supportive of Israel, and few question that,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nonprofit group that promotes consensus among Jewish groups and oversees the Israel Advocacy Initiative, that tries to communicate pro-Israel views.
The American Jewish Committee and other Jewish groups have attacked a campaign of e-mails that made false claims that Senator Obama was, among other things, a secret Muslim. (He is a Christian who has attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago since the 1980s.)
“I think Obama has dealt effectively with those rumors that he is really a secret agent,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
And to Rabbi Hirsch, “Most Jews are too sophisticated to fall for that garbage,” he said, adding: “It’s almost embarrassing that there would be an attempt to sway us in that manner.”
As for Senator Clinton, “I don’t think the Suha issue has any resonance anymore,” Mr. Koch said. In 1999, Mrs. Clinton attended an event in Ramallah where the wife of Yasir Arafat, Suha, accused Israel of poisoning Palestinian women and children with toxic gases. Mrs. Clinton listened with obvious discomfort but left politely, giving Mrs. Arafat a kiss.
Mrs. Arafat’s remarks were denounced by Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel, and in New York, Mrs. Clinton was criticized in newspaper editorials and by several groups for her silence and the kiss. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, then a possible Senate candidate, sharply attacked her.
Mr. Koch added: “I said that Suha wasn’t an issue in a Hillary commercial then, and I’d say it again in a commercial now if she asked me.”
Both Senators are still looking for endorsements, and hoping that the ones they have will influence Tuesday’s vote. “Both Hillary and Obama have prominent people in the Jewish community supporting them,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
Aside from Mr. Koch, prominent Jewish politicians supporting Mrs. Clinton include New York’s other senator, Charles E. Schumer; Senator Dianne Feinstein of California; and Representatives Gary L. Ackerman of Queens, Eliot L. Engel of the Bronx, Jerrold L. Nadler of Manhattan, Anthony D. Weiner of Queens and Brooklyn.
Among Senator Obama’s political supporters are several Jewish members of Congress: Representatives Steve Rothman of New Jersey, Adam B. Schiff of California, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Robert Wexler of Florida.
Although the candidates have focused on public appearances in other states, “my sense is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for both candidates in the Jewish community, and that both represent an important breakthrough in American political and social life,” Rabbi Hirsch said.
He added: “The community was disproportionately active in favor of the civil-rights movement, and so the prospect of an African American president is enormously moving for the Jewish community. But then, the prospect of a woman president is also very moving for the Jewish community.”
In the American Jewish Committee’s national Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 70 percent of Jewish Democrats said they had a favorable opinion of Senator Clinton, in comparison with 45 percent for Senator Obama. The telephone poll last November studied 1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents in a sample that had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
A victory in New York’s Jewish community for Senator Obama would be remarkable. “In the Chicago community Jewish voters know Obama well and like him,” said Malcolm I. Hoenlein, vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization that focuses on Jewish issues. “But in New York, Jewish voters don’t know him well.”
None would predict who would sway Jewish voters on Tuesday. “I think that the Jewish vote is supporting Hillary at this point,” Mr. Davidoff said. “But Obama has the buzz. And with the primary less than a week away, this is very volatile.”
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. Does he still live in a rent stabilized apt.
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