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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/35286/full/35286/-indecision-5768-shaping-up-to-be-the-true-summer-games/ <br /><br /> <b>‘Indecision 5768’ shaping up to be the true summer games</b> <br /> Friday, July 11, 2008 | by <p>andrew silow-carroll </p> <br /><br /><p>The presidential preliminaries are over. Let the games begin.<br /><br /> Now that we have presumptive candidates for both the major parties, we can get a pretty good picture how each will troll for the elusive Jewish swing vote. Elusive and coveted: Jews may be a fraction of the total population, but when it comes to voting — and voting in key states such as Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada — they represent a significant bloc.<br /><br /> When it comes to fundraising, meanwhile, few communities or interest groups can boast as many generous campaign donors or party activists.<br /><br /> Every November, at least since 2001, the GOP has predicted that the Democrats would at last release their slavish hold on the Jews. It hasn’t happened, despite Republican Jewish Coalition ads accusing the party of FDR and JFK of becoming the party of Jimmy Carter and Al Sharpton. But the GOP would be thrilled if it can get 30 percent of the Jewish vote, especially in the key states.<br /><br /> I recently got a glimpse of what Jon Stewart is calling “Indecision 5768” — the parties’ Jewish strategies — at the annual conference of the American Jewish Press Association (a cheery get-together that could have been subtitled “A Dying Medium for a Shrinking Community”).<br /><br /> The John McCain and Barack Obama camps sent surrogates to talk to the audience of Jewish newspaper editors and publishers. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) represented Obama; former AIPAC director (and self-described “Scoop Jackson Democrat”) Morris Amitay spoke for McCain.<br /><br /> Their remarks suggest this about the campaign to come: The Dems will stress that Obama is deeply committed to Israel, shares the Jews’ dominant liberalism and, unlike McCain, is committed to avoiding the foreign policy blunders of the Bush administration.<br /><br /> The McCain camp will insist Obama has a thin résumé and is an “unknown” at a time of peril for the Mideast, Israel and America. It will hint darkly at his “minister problem” and friendship with the likes of pro-Palestinian academic Rashid Khalidi.<br /><br /> Wexler started off by saying Obama is a staunch supporter of Israel, understands its predicament, has an A+ voting record on the issue and rejects the Palestinian right of return. Next he compared Obama’s Mideast views to those of “Bush and McCain,” saying Obama engages the region intellectually and would not have been sold a “bill of goods” like the Palestinian elections that brought Hamas to power in Gaza.<br /><br /> Wexler defended Obama’s calls for dialogue with Iran by saying that the United States regularly negotiates with Libya and North Korea, and that the “Bush-McCain” strategy has not brought a solution to the Iranian crisis any closer. (He was quick to stress, however, that the military option on Iran “remains on the table,” and that assertive diplomacy would only make a future military strategy more credible.)<br /><br /> Amitay started off by establishing his Democratic bona fides (he skiped over the hawkish stands he’s been known for in recent years; Wexler, by contrast, distributed press material for his new book, “Fire-Breathing Liberal”).<br /><br /> Amitay pointed to Hillary Clinton’s wide margin of support over Obama in Florida, before quickly inserting a joke about his own age (he and McCain were both born in 1936). Having addressed the age issue, he immediately went after Obama, saying the Democrat has a “thin record on national security issues.”<br /><br /> “When I ask who will keep America and Israel safe, this is a slam dunk for me,” Amitay said.<br /><br /> He added that he didn’t go along with the “vicious diatribes” against Obama, but instead doubted the candidate’s experience, knowledge and self-confidence. He worried that Obama “relies on advisers.” (He would elaborate on this later, boasting that McCain “doesn’t have that many advisers.”) He also said he doesn’t believe in “guilt by association,” but then rattled off a list of Obama friends and allies — the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Khalidi, Bill Ayers, Rep. David Bonior — as well as bad guys who gave Obama their unsolicited endorsements, such as Louis Farrakhan and a Hamas official.<br /><br /> When someone asked Amitay for positive reasons to vote for McCain, Amitay demurred and said that the election is shaping up as a “referendum” on Obama.<br /><br /> That gave Wexler an opportunity to list Obama’s stands on domestic issues he says are every bit as important to his South Florida Jewish constituents as the situation in Israel.<br /><br /> Wexler is right that most Jews don’t put their feelings for Israel ahead of bread-and-butter issues, such as the economy, Social Security, Medicare, the Supreme Court, the environment and health care. Confident that support for Israel is strong in both parties, the majority is happy to vote for the Democrat.<br /><br /> But Amitay is also correct that there is a small but significant number of Jewish swing voters, whose anxiety over Israel, terror and a candidate’s perceived inexperience might trump their domestic politics. They can be swayed to join the minority among Jews who already share Republican views on the economy, national defense, regulation and tax policy.<br /><br /> Let the games begin.<br /><br /> <br><br /><br /> <b>Andrew Silow-Carroll </b>is the editor in chief of the New Jersey Jewish News, where this column previously appeared.</p> <p> </p>

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