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Obama taps L.A. federation, former AIPAC official

By Ami Eden · July 15, 2008

The Forward had a story earlier month about the Obama campaign lining up Jewish lawmakers in its outreach efforts.

Well now Team Obama has a new guy at the DNC to lead its Jewish fund-raising efforts: Keath Blatt, currently a bigwig at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and a former AIPAC official. Here's a snippet from his mass "I'm going to work for Obama" e-mail:

I am excited to inform you that starting Tuesday, July 22nd I will be working at the Democratic National Committee in D.C. as the National Jewish Community Finance Director for the Obama campaign. The opportunity fell into my lap and I am thrilled that it did. Those of you who are Democrats are probably delighted to read this. My dear Republican friends are likely less so...

With U.S.-Israel relations such a critical issue in the campaign, I look forward to working closely with many of you to ensure that support for Israel remains bipartisan.

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RJC: Facts do matter

By Ami Eden · July 15, 2008

As promised... here is the Republican Jewish Coalition's statement acknowledging its inaccurate press release from yesterday:

RJC Statement on Yesterday's Press Release

Washington, D.C. (July 15, 2008) – Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the followed statement today:

"In a press release issued yesterday by the Republican Jewish Coalition, we called on Senator Obama to drop anti-Israel Senator Chuck Hagel as a participant on Obama's upcoming trip to Israel. Despite information from multiple sources, both in the U.S. and abroad, that Hagel would be accompanying Obama to Israel - as well as on the additional stops of the trip, including Iraq and Afghanistan - we have been made aware that Hagel will not be a part of the Israel leg of the trip. However, while Hagel is not going to Israel with Obama, it does not change the fact that we remain concerned about the ongoing outreach by Senator Obama to Senator Hagel," said Brooks. "We remain deeply troubled that Senator Obama has called Hagel one of the 'good guys' and that Hagel is often cited as a possible vice presidential candidate or as a future cabinet member in a possible Obama administration. That Obama is looking to Hagel for advise and counsel on foreign policy matters should be a real cause of concern to the American Jewish community. It highlights, once again, why Obama continues to have problems among Jewish voters," said Brooks.

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), cited clear examples of Sen. Hagel's abysmal record on Israel.

* In August 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization. * In December 2005, Hagel was one of only 27 who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections. * In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran's nuclear program at the G-8 summit. * In November 2001, Hagel was one of only 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yassir Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel. * In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.

"By aligning himself with Chuck Hagel, Barack Obama continues to send every wrong signal to the Jewish community about who he is and where he stands on issues important to Israel and the American Jewish community," Brooks concluded.

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Cover-gate

By Ami Eden · July 15, 2008

Plenty of people are weighing in on The New Yorker's satirical cover of the Obamas as terrorists.

My two cents: Timing, especially in comedy, is everything – and, in this case, the gag would have made much more sense back when the Obama-is-a-Muslim stuff was in full gear. By now the issue has died down, so if you don't like it, why re-inject it into the national debate?

Here's the quote from Obama spokesman Bill Burton: "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

Check out this clip of CNN'sWolf Blitzer interviewing New Yorker editor David Remnick about the cover.

Plus a few quick takes from other pundits ...

GAWKER: "This is the problem with being an editor or publisher or writer or cartoonist or even blogger and having some small lingering trace of a sense of irony—sometimes you accidentally assume that the Vast and Mysterious "Audience" shares that subversive French sense."

Byron York, NATIONAL REVIEW: "Privately, some McCain types admit they find the cover funny. And how bad can it be for your campaign when a national magazine, in an effort to take a shot at Fox News and talk radio, portrays your opponent like this? Some of Obama's supporters are likely to go over the top in their defensive outrage, sending subtle reinforcements to viewers who already believe that McCain is stronger than Obama on the issue of terrorism. Maybe it's funny, and maybe it's tasteless and offensive — maybe all three — but it will be noticed."

Jake Tapper, ABC NEWS: "Intent factors into these matters, of course, but no Upper East Side liberal – no matter how superior they feel their intellect is – should assume that just because they're mocking such ridiculousness, the illustration won't feed into the same beast in emails and other media. It's a recruitment poster for the right-wing." (Click here to read Tapper's follow-up post, including Remnick's rebuttal.)

Andrew Sullivan, THE ATLANTIC: "I thought it was quite funny myself. This was obviously intended ironically, and it's not exactly Parade magazine."

Eve Fairbanks, THE NEW REPUBLIC: "This week's cover seems to me ultimately more dull than provocative – a collection of the most obvious smear narratives about Obama, lumped together and mediocrely illustrated. It's no better than Perry Bacon's infamous Washington Post story, "Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him." Both outlets claimed not to support the allegations they were visually or rhetorically putting forward – obviously! – and yet a reader would have to have a fairly sophisticated understanding of each outlet's ethos to immediately intuit the intended ironic distance."

Michael Weiss, PAJAMASMEDIA: "Listening to the chorus of fainthearted responses to this week's New Yorker cover, one gets the impression that satire, like everything else in our sad culture, must now come with a warning label and child-safety latch."

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RJC: Facts, shmacts

By Ami Eden · July 15, 2008

Yesterday I put up a post about the Republican Jewish Coalition's apparent goof in issuing a statement slamming Barack Obama for planning to bring Chuck Hagel with him when he visits Israel. I say goof because the Obama campaign says Hagel – the Nebraska Republican who has been a harsh critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy – is not joining the Democratic nominee in Israel (both senators will be taking part in a congressional trip to Iraq and Afghanistan).

When I posted yesterday, the RJC statement appeared to be an honest mistake, so I didn't make a huge deal about it, and even noted that Hagel is rumored to be under consideration to be Obama's Veep or Pentagon chief. (Why would this be of concern to some Jewish voters? Well, the RJC cited this statement put out in 2007 by the National Jewish Democratic Council.)

But now the statement has been up for nearly 24 hours, and the RJC shows no signs of amending it or taking it down, a point made quite clear in this exchange that the RJC's communication director, Suzanne Kurtz, reportedly had with Sam Stein of HuffingtonPost.

UPDATE: I'm told the RJC will be issuing a new statement very shortly.

UPDATED UPDATE: Here is the new statement.

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