JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

JTA: Who will get Obama to speak to the Jewish community?

By Jacob Berkman · July 21, 2009

My colleague Eric Fingerhut has a story about Jewish groups vying to get the President to address their conferences. He says the UJC may be the safest bet among the alphabet soup:

Perhaps the politically safest option would be the United Jewish Communities General Assembly, the annual gathering of leaders of the North American Jewish federation system, which this year happens to be taking place in the nation’s capital Nov. 8-11.

“It makes perfect sense,” said one knowledgeable observer of the community. “It's really the biggest Jewish gathering, it's mainstream, it's nationwide” and brings together thousands from all along the political spectrum. Another Jewish politico said that given the federation system's focus on fund raising for Israeli and domestic humanitarian causes, the GA is the sort of venue where the president could get by with generic pro-Israel remarks (i.e. no controversy) and score major points by highlighting various domestic policies.

“He could speak about any subject on the White House agenda” -- from health care to volunteerism to caring for the elderly to the economy, the second observer said.

(For those looking to make bets, it also doesn't hurt that GA co-chair Kenneth Feinberg was recently named the Treasury Department “pay czar” deciding compensation for top executives of companies receiving government assistance.)