Jewish voters and Obama

J Street is an extrememly liberal organization who wants BHO elected. I would look further before trusting these numbers.

This matters in only two states. Florida, which is leaning to McCain already , and the 'ol toss-up, Ohio. Other than that, the Jewish vote is irrelevant.

I don't understand why Obama has any support from this group or any person with half a brain and love for their country. Seriously why do the Jewish vote mostly democrat? I can't figure this out. Does anybody have a answer?

Hi there -- Just want you to know that J Street is not a magazine, but an advocacy organization. Check us out at JStreet.org.

Whatever it is, it's not enough! Not enough Jews voting AGAINST Obama that is!

Considering all his Radical Palestinian/Arab ties; his mentoring by Communist Frank Marshall Davis; his bogus speech to AIPAC, his immediate caving to Arab reaction after his "undivided" Jeruselum comments; his obvious intent to suck up to Ahmedinejad/Iran; his endorsements from Gaza, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, his Marxist-Muslim background, and in all likeihood he IS a Muslim who is practicing "Taqiyah", I'm just stunned that maybe 58% of Jews WILL vote for him!

Do they need their collective heads examined, or what?

Ever since I can remember, conservatives have been absolutely astonished that Jews always vote Democrat. Nixon had some quote about it. Nobody has ever figured it out. I've seen lots of theories, but nothing conclusive. Not only do they vote Democratic, despite their financial situation, ties to Israel, etc -- they are the most liberals of Democrats. It is really peculiar.

Dale in Atlanta:

"in all likeihood he IS a Muslim who is practicing 'Taqiyah'".

That is something I that have been worrying for months. Facts tend to favor rather than disfavor that possibility. We know that the liberal left do not care whether Obama is indeed a Muslim practicing "Taqiyah" as long as he hates Bush, wants a defeat in Iraq, and terminate babies' and fetuses' life.

But the biggest puzzle is, why do some christian conservatives still support Obama?

Obama has a bit of a Jewish "problem" as the author characterizes it. Concerning the comment that the Jewish vote does not matter since Jews are in states that will vote for the Dem anyway--this is incorrect.

First, Jews have money and influence and if they are not strongly for Obama, this will hurt. Second, McCain fails to energize his base. Yet, there is one other minority with power and influence that will respond with a vengeance against Obama: Christian evangelicals. Therefore, Obama will pay a price for luke warm support among Jews--some of which will be forced to vote McCain even though they do not like to vote for any Republican and he will also pay another price for mobilizing evangelicals who might have sat out the election with the poor selection of McCain but will be motivated to vote against a candidate who is not friendly to Israel--Obama.

As for the question why is the Jewish community so perverse and so tied to liberal politics--this is a long story and it is based in irrationality and habit that is hard to break. As a proud conservative Jew, I believe there will be a day soon when the right candidate will break the stranglehold of the left on our community. McCain is not that candidate. Too many Jews are Jews in name only and their religion is liberalism and not Judaism. As for having their heads examined--they will not sit for a discussion of their beliefs, much less a medical examination. They believe wrongly and they do not want to talk about it or defend it. They vote liberal because they *are* liberal-minded and that is that. There is grave hypocrisy in such a stand since leftist Jews are abortion champions who never have abortions, they push for affirmative action and do not want it for themselves, they want more government but not necessarily for themselves. It is a confused notion of what "tikkun olam" means--that is repairing the world. Leftist Jews want to see themselves as fixing the world but only in a weird, twisted way.

If Jews became Jewish they would leave liberalism in droves. In fact, the strongest predictor of political affiliation is religious conviction. I rarely encounter a liberal Jew at the shuls I visit since I am Orthodox. Since most Jews are completely secular or Reform, they are leaders in the Democratic party.

Jews have power and influence well beyond their numbers. The Left is literally carried by their Jews and if Jews awoken to become serious about Judaism and left the Dem party--that absence would be a huge blow to left-wing politics. Moving merely a few hundred thousand Jews would literally destroy the Democratic Party as it is currently constituted. The leading voices in all the liberal circles including the gay rights movement, PETA, abortion rights, feminism--every where one can look--some Jew is the leader. Jews have articulated the mission of the liberal world since they have lost their mission as Jews.

To this day I am baffled by the liberalism of the Jews in this country.
I think underlying Jewish liberalism is the belief that somehow conservatives are all anti-semites; but they need to update their records because today many people on the left are ant-semetic. It's the left that has started these consperacy theories about 911 and the no Jews being killed when in fact 33 Jews were killed in 911.

But the biggest puzzle is, why do some christian conservatives still support Obama?

Posted by: petrovian | July 17, 2008 01:25 PM

Because they are Crazy!

Many Jews take pride in being for the underdog and want to help others who they deem as unfortunate/underprivileged. Because Jews where down trodden for so long it's ingrained in them to help those they deem in need. While all Jews are taught to be generous in charitable giving, giving that help to politically correct causes allow secular Jews to feel they are making a difference in the world and thus are good people. It's amazing how many wealthy Jews give millions of dollars to causes that negatively effect Israel and fellow Jews; even though many Jewish causes are in need of funding. If Jews are generally liberal and J street represents Jewish liberals you can only imagine how far left the organization is. Its very sad that many Jews just don't want to discuss a democratic candidate's history of being aligned with anti Israel advisors and associates.

The question really isn't why Jewish Americans would vote for BHO but rather why ANYONE would vote for him. Hope?, Change?. A (free range) chicken in every pot, a hybrid in every driveway? Promise them anything just as long as I get elected seems to be his underlying theme. And then what? Higher taxes, nationalize health care, nationalize education, nationalize oil, nationalize pharmaceuticals.Make our military the best second rate military power in the world. How about Bill Ayers for Secretary of State. Or Jerimiah Wright for the Secretary of Education. Pull out of Iraq and bring a new meaning to the term "power vacuum". You could list his accomplishments on a 3x5 card with room to spare. So again, why would ANYONE vote for him. And don't forget his angry and bitter "better half". Can you envision her as the "First Lady"?

Thanks David for your answer to my question. I find it interesting that Jewish people think liberalism is kind to underdogs. To me I see liberals wanting to keep the masses as underdogs. Liberal policys create underdogs and make it impossible to get out of that situation. I am not Jewish but I see them as smart succesfull people how do they not see that liberal democrats are heading in a direction that is very dangerous for this country as well as Israel?

David N. Friedman, I found your insight VERY interesting. Thank you.
I live in a part of the country with a VERY small Jewish population, though I think as a whole, they would be very welcome here. That being the case, everything I know about Jewish people comes from the news and reading on the web...so your insight was very useful.
As I've thought about it, I always wondered why Hillary tried to appeal to that populace by claiming heritage with Jews. In my perception of Jews, I would think that they would certainly be consistently conservative.

RE: Most Jews being Democrats.

This phenomenon can best be explained as a response to the insider/outsider dichotomy. After the major upheaval of the Civil War, the Republican Party became the political vehicle for the insiders, which were the entrenched power elite, including the industrialists and their newly established ranks of factory workers, and western expansionists. During this period, blacks aligned themselves with Republicans due to the Republican Civil War victory and Republican support of emancipation. As a counter-balance, the Democrat Party became the political vehicle for the outsiders, including disaffected Confederates, the large numbers of newly arriving immigrants (Catholics and Jews), and struggling farmers. The next major upheavals of the Great Depression and WWII combined to give the Democrats a new coalition of outsiders, that is, all the groups that suffered during the economic catastrophe, adding the blacks and the factory workers to the amalgam of ex-Confederates, second-generation immigrants (Catholics and Jews), and struggling farmers. We see the hangover from this reorientation to this day.

People are largely creatures of habit, and Jews are no exception. This explains why the grip of the Democrats seems unshakeable on their constituent groups, even though we recognize now the malignant effects of recent Democrat policies on the very people who continue to elect and re-elect them. It will likely take another major upheaval to again reorient the political landscape. If we survive that long...