Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 12, 1992 Page: 4 of 28
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Opinion
4 TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, NOVEMBER 12, 1992-IN OUR 46TH YEAR!
Christopher and the Carter Fac-
tor:
Jewish groups here are going to
great lengths to prove that they
have nothing against Warren Chris-
topher, who was named last week
to head up the day-to-day opera-
tions of the Bill Clinton transition
team.
Warren Christopher
In recent days, press reports sur-
faced suggesting that pro-Israel
activists have been seen on Capitol
hill campaigning actively against
Christopher, who was deputy sec-
retary of state during the Carter
administration—and who is still
considered a possible choice for a
top position in the Clinton admin-
istration, despite his statement last
week that his role as transition co-
ordinator might preclude a perma-
nent position.
Those press reports were inaccu-
rate, Jewish activists insisted this
week.
The American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC), which
was mentioned in one nationally
syndicated account of the anti-
Christopher effort, has no specific
concerns about Christopher, said a
spokesperson for the group.
“There’s not a scintilla of evi-
dence in anything we know of to
suggest in any way that he is un-
friendly to Israel or partisan to the
so-called Arabist point of view,”
the spokesperson said.
Other Jewish activists point out
that Christopher, during his earlier
State Department tenure, was gen-
erally accessible to Jewish groups.
“My approach has been that the
Jewish community has a lot of con-
fidence in Clinton and in his ap-
proach to the Arab-Israeli conflict,”
said Jess Hordes, Washington di-
rector for the Anti-Defamation
League. “I don’t think the main-
stream community has any par-
ticular problem with Christopher.”
Other sources attributed last
week’s stories to a general unease
Washington Watch
among Jewish politicos over the
possibility of a large number of
Jimmy Carter retreads working
their way back into the foreign
policy establishment.
“There has been a kind of hyste-
ria in recent weeks over the Carter
factor that is simply not justified,”
said one leading pro-Israel source
here. “The Carter administration
did lean on Israel during the Camp
David process, and they lacked the
warm and cuddly approach of the
Shultz years—but people like War-
ren Christopher have never given
us any reason to believe that they
would be antagonistic to our con-
cerns.”
And, this source argued, it would
be the height of foolishness for the
pro-Israel community to begin its
relationship with a new adminis-
tration by blasting one of its key
figures.
Jewish Clout and the Election:
Did last week’s presidential elec-
tion represent a blow to Jewish
political power—or the beginning
of a new and promising era of Jew-
ish political activism?
That question has been hotly de-
bated in Jewish political circles in
the days since the election.
“The Jewish community was
definitely the loser in this cam-
paign,” said Betty Ehrenberg, ex-
ecutive director of the Orthodox
Union’s Institute for Public Af-
fairs. “We were ignored by both
parties; I think we are in danger of
being seen as not as powerful a
force as we once were.”
The Republicans, she said, wrote
off the Jewish vote early in the
campaign; the Democrats, assured
of a huge Jewish margin, decided
not to waste precious resources on
a constituency they had already
won.
“This election tells us that we
have to look at ourselves very care-
fully and decide what our role
should be, so we can avoid being
trivialized,” she said.
But political historian Allan
Lichtman, whose model for pre-
dicting presidential elections
proved to be one of the only accu-
rate ones in this erratic political
year, takes a different view of the
impact of the election.
The huge Jewish vote for the
Clinton-Gore ticket, he said, may
have played a significant impact in
putting the Democrats over the top
in at least one key state, Ohio. And
Jewish voters provided a boost in
Florida that almost wrested the state
from the Republican column.
“The Jewish community DID
By James David Besser
play a role in this election,” he said.
“As a result, I think there will be a
real renaissance for Jewish politi-
cal power.”
Lichtman argued that the low-
key Jewish efforts by the two can-
didates did not represent a diminu-
tion of Jewish power; the fact that
Jews were not heavily targeted may
actually provide a boost for Jewish
activism in the next few years.
“When an interest group is too
much in the forefront, it can have a
boomerang effect that can dimin-
ish their influence,” he said. “I think
this will be a very good period for
Jewish groups active in Washing-
ton.”
Lieberman Poised for Leading
Role in New Congress:
Who was the first senator to call
President Elect Bill Clinton on
Tuesday night and offer his con-
gratulations on the Democrat’s
stunning triumph?
And what Jewish legislator is
poised to take on greater impor-
tance when the Clinton administra-
tion storms Capitol Hill in an effort
to enact much of its domestic
agenda in the first days of the new
Congress?
The answer to both questions is
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).
Lieberman, an early supporter of
the Arkansas governor, worked tire-
lessly on behalf of the Clinton-
Gore ticket. He raised more than $2
million for the campaign, much of
it from Jewish contributors; in the
final weeks of the slugfest,
Lieberman traversed the country
on behalf of the Democratic ticket.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman
According to some observers,
Lieberman—the only Orthodox
Jew in the Senate—was particu-
larly effective in convincing Or-
thodox Jews to return to the Demo-
cratic party.
Now, Lieberman is set to be-
come one of the Clinton
administration’s floor leaders in
Capitol Hill in what is expected to
become an extraordinarily difficult
congressional session.
AJCommittee Moves on Gay
Rights:
For the Jewish activists on the
* Bill Clinton campaign team, last
Tuesday wasa surreal experience—
the successful culmination of many
months worth of passion and inten-
sity.
“It was like a dream,” said Sara
Ehrman, who worked in Little Rock
as head of the Clinton-Gore Jewish
effort. “People wandered around
all day There were huge numbers
of people in the halls; everybody
brought their family, their friends
to be part of this. There was an air
of unreality; we had been working
so hard that we didn’t permit our-
selves to think about winning or
losing, just about how to run the
campaign.”
Ehrman and her staff spent much
of the day calling around the coun-
try, monitoring the exit polls and
watching the Jewish turnout in key
areas.
‘“We went from an elated high to
even more elation as the day wore
on,” said Ehrman, , who has been
associated with both the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) and Americans for Peace
Now. “We knew we were going to
win, and win big, by that morning,
when our polling showed that the
Electoral College would be a blow-
out.”
But there was also an element of
sadness in Little Rock in the days
after the Clinton triumph.
“The ‘war room’ is dismantled,”
she said, “and the TVs are stacked
up in the halls. There have been
people trom all around the country
running this campaign—especially
young people. It was like a family.
And now they’re breaking up. So
there is sadness, as well as areal joy
that we have actually elected a presi-
dent of the United States.”
Jewish Clintonites in Ecstasy:
The American Jewish Commit-
see WASH WATCH p. 25
Texas Jewish Post
Editor and Publisher J.A. Wisch
Managing Editor & Co-Publisher Rene Wisch
Assistant Editor Sharon Wisch-Ray
Consultant Steve Wisch
Social Editor Linda Davidsohn
Typography Stan Cumberledge
Since 1947 Food/Home Susan Wisch
Adv. Representatives Judy Wisch, Wylma Hooker
Robert Brimm, Sharon Wisch-Ray
Layout Angie Englert
Photography Sharon Wisch-Ray & Judy Wisch
Circulation Director Angie Englert
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 12, 1992, newspaper, November 12, 1992; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755365/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .