By Eric Fingerhut on Aug 27, 2008 in Barack Obama, Democratic convention, Featured, Florida, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Race, Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
“I don’t want anyone to blame Hillary if [Obama] loses the election,” said Jewish Democratic National Convention Hillary Clinton delegate Bill Kling Wednesday morning. Her speech was “absolutely heartfelt. …I think she did enough to show her support.”
The 80-year-old Plantation resident was representative of his fellow Florida Jewish delegates pledged for Clinton. They lauded her speech Tuesday night, said they were 100 percent behind Barack Obama but acknowledged that some of their fellow Jewish Clinton supporters in South Florida were still not sold on the presumptive nominee.
“A lot of [Jewish Democrats] are saying …. they’re not going to vote,” said Kling.
Diana Mazel Pittarelli of Hollywood said she said seen the hostility toward Obama in Broward County that others have also described. “A lot of these people … don’t know enough about him.” She added that many of the reasons they provide for not liking Obama — from his name to his policies on the Middle East — are simply “excuses for other things,” namely their reluctance to vote for a black candidate. As a realtor who has brought black families to South Florida condo boards, Pittarelli said she is familiar with it.
Others were more optimistic. “Little by little,” she’s seeing former Clinton supporters jump on the Obama bandwagon, said Diane Glasser, first vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a superdelegate. She hoped she’d see some further movement when she returned home, due to Clinton’s speech.
“It’s hard for older people to let go,” said Bunny Steinman of Boynton Beach, president of the Democratic Club of Greater Boynton. But “I see people coming around. … I think it’s doable.”
Steinman, like others, said the most help would be for the Democratic candidate himself to introduce himself personally to their neighbors. “Obama needs to come down and get in to some of these older communities,” she said.
Even an Obama delegate could understand the reason for some reluctance by Clinton supporters. “It’s a process,” said Mark Alan Siegel of Boca Raton. “When the future of the Jewish people is at stake, you want to be really careful.” He said that more education and dissemination of “accurate information … around the minyan table” should do the trick.
By Eric Fingerhut on Aug 21, 2008 in Barack Obama, Democratic convention, Eric Cantor, Featured, John McCain, Presidential Race, Tidbits, Veepstakes, Virginia | 0 Comments |
- MSNBC’s First Read reports that Dan Shapiro, Obama’s new senior foreign policy adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator, lobbied for the American Petroleum Institute — but the campaign responds that he de-registered as a lobbyist before joining the campaign.
- Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times notes two instances yesterday of Republicans “making plays to erode Obama’s Jewish support” — and the Obama campaign’s pushback.
- Brett Joshpe of TownHall.com argues, not particularly persuasively, that a VP pick of Eric Cantor could transform “traditional Jewish voting patterns.”
- Cantor continues to be a top McCain surrogate, joining Mitt Romney in Denver to try to distract attention from the Dem convention, reports Media General.
- The New Jersey Jewish News provides some details on what went on at that $1.3 million fundraiser the pro-Israel group NORPAC sponsored for McCain last week in Teaneck — as well as a second one Cindy McCain spoke at in the home of a Jewish philanthropist.
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Time’s Joel Stein suggests Obama’s strategy in Florida should be based on the principle that “a Jewish grandchild is never wrong.”
- A Jewish Republican blogger provides highlights from a debate between Obama and McCain surrogates at a Los Angeles synagogue.
- And the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles want the two presidential candidates to join Mike Huckabee in “denouncing the folly of [the] Israeli-Palestinian ‘two-state solution.’ ”
By Ami Eden on Feb 11, 2008 in Barack Obama, Featured, Hillary Clinton, Maryland, Virginia | 3 Comments |
JTA’s Ben Harris has a preview of tomorrow’s slate of primaries, including a look into the fight for Maryland’s Jewish votes and the Obama camp’s efforts to head off any upset over the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran. Read the rest
By Ami Eden on Feb 11, 2008 in Barack Obama, Presidential Race, Virginia | 1 Comment |
Barack Obama’s campaign is clearly aware that the endorsement from U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) might rub some Jews the wrong way, given his assertion in 2003 that the Iraq war would not happen without Jewish support.
Here’s a statement that the Obama campaign has put out to address any potential concern in the Jewish community:
“Senator Obama has received the support of millions of Americans who are inspired by his vision for change, and he welcomes that support. There are clear instances where he disagrees with views expressed by individual supporters, and that is the case with Congressman Moran’s comments on the Jewish community’s role in the decision to wage war in Iraq. Senator Obama is proud of his close and longstanding ties to the Jewish community, and blames Washington’s failed conventional thinking for a war in Iraq that should never have been authorized, and never have been waged.”
At the Virginia Democrats’ Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Saturday night, Obama thanked Moran, calling him “a wonderful congressman and a great friend.” Hillarly Clinton also acknowledged Moran, along with the other Democratic members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, but was less effusive in doing so.
For the record, Moran has apologized for the remark about the Iraq war. And, let us not forget, some of his best daughters are Jewish.
By Ami Eden on Feb 10, 2008 in Barack Obama, Presidential Race, Virginia | 0 Comments |
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) has endorsed Barack Obama.
As Politico’s Ben Smith suggests, it could cause Obama some problems with Jewish voters. (Click here to see why.)
Of course, at Saturday night’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Virginia, both Obama and Hillary Clinton mentioned Moran in the potions of their respective speeches praising the state’s Democratic officials.
