Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 4, 2008 Page: 6 of 20
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Page 6
Jewish Herald-Voice
September 4, 2008
Nation
Obama camp to raise domestic issues in bid for Jewish votes
Barack Obama, campaigning in Wisconsin.
By ERIC FINGERHUT
DENVER (JTA) - After months of
playing up their candidate’s support
for Israel, Obama advisors say the
campaign is opening up a second
front in the battle for Jewish voters.
Obama Jewish outreach director Dan
Shapiro told JTA that the campaign
will now be emphasizing that the
presumptive Democratic candidate’s
“values” are “in sync” with historic
“Jewish values” on a variety of
domestic issues, wfeile Republican
“John McCain’s values are not.”
Shapiro cited Obama’s commit-
ment to the separation of church
and state, his economic policies to
“protect the middle class and the less
fortunate,” his choice of justices for
the Supreme Court, and his backing
for energy independence and protect-
ing the environment as issues falling
under the Jewish values umbrella.
He added that the campaign also
would point out that Obama is the
“only candidate who can rebuild the
historic ties between the Jewish and
African-American communities.”
Shapiro and others close to the
campaign stressed that the new
“Jewish values” message wmdd
complement and not replace a
continued emphasis on Obama’s
“rock-solid support for Israel.”
“We are not, in any way, moving
away from foreign policy,” said
Shapiro, who has been advising the
Obama campaign for months, but
recently signed on for a full-time
position. “We think his foreign policy
stands are one of his strengths.”
While the Illinois senator has
been leading consistently in recent
polls of Jewish voters by about 30
points, his level of 61 to 62 percent is
significantly below the percentage of
the Jewish vote that recent Democratic
presidential candidates have garnered
- including John Kerry’s 75 percent in
2004 and 79 percent for A1 Gore four
years earlier.
Many have attributed Obama’s
lower numbers to a variety of factors
- from concerns raised by emails
falsely claiming he is a Muslim to
his association with controversial
Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright to
the unfamiliarity of Jewish voters
with a politician who was first
elected to the U.S. Senate less than
four years ago.
Other analysts attribute McCain’s
relative strength to his “personal
appeal” as a moderate and maverick.
That was the line used by Stuart
Rothenberg of Roll Call and Richard
Baehr of the politically conservative
American Thinker website, during
a discussion of the Jewish vote that
took place Aug. 25, in conjunction
with the Democratic National
Convention taking place here.
Jewish Democrats said focusing
more attention on domestic issues,
such as the Supreme Court and
reproductive rights, will change that
perception of McCain in the Jewish
community.
“John McCain has been very
effective in appearing to be much
more moderate than he really is,”
because of his support of campaign
finance reform and immigration
reform, said Mel Levine, a former
congressman from California who
is advising the Obama campaign on
Middle East issues.
For example, National Jewish
Democratic Council executive
director Ira Forman noted that he
often speaks to groups of Democrats
and independents who are surprised
to learn that McCain has proudly
touted his “pro-life” record.
Jewish Democratic leaders in
Denver praised the promised new
domestic thrust, saying it was
critical for the Obama campaign
to flesh out, for Jewish voters, the
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Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 4, 2008, newspaper, September 4, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544212/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .