Another Thought On Obama, The Jewish Vote, And Dumb Right-Wing Strategies
Posted on May 13, 2008 by andrew
I just read a few more blog posts discussing the Barack Obama/Jeffrey “Not the Goldberg of Liberal Fascism Fame” Goldberg interview and the ongoing attempts by certain right-wing smear artists to paint Obama as a closet Israel-loathing anti-Semite. Here’s what occurred to me:
Let these assholes continue to waste their time on this.
Seriously, who cares? I mean, on a personal emotional and intellectual level, it obviously bothers me to see a politician I’ve entrusted with my support smeared as a clandestine neo-Nazi. But on the big-picture electoral politics level, this campaign is an almost comical waste of the smear artists’ time and energy.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The vast majority of American Jews (both religious and not), who adore America’s vast amounts of religious freedom, clear separation between church and state, and emphasis on tolerance and respect for others, will never vote Republican so long as the theocratic wing of that party remains as powerful as it is today. Never. Besides, even if I’m wrong, Jewish voters make up something like 1-2% of the population, and nearly all of them are concentrated in states the Democrats couldn’t possibly lose in this election even if large numbers of Jews were to turn against them. On top of that, Jews are so coveted as voters precisely because they are disproportionately well educated (and wealthy) as a group and therefore tend to turn out to vote (and donate) in high numbers. Being “high information” voters in turn makes them decidedly less likely to fall for blatant lies and propaganda. (And regardless of how much information a group has, no group likes being played for suckers. The Republicans are quite clearly attempting to play Jewish voters for suckers on this “issue”.)
So, yeah. This constant smearing of Barack Obama as being anti-Israel in an attempt to turn the Jewish vote is a fundamentally stupid political strategy in nearly every way imaginable. I say keep it up. Meanwhile, this Jewish voter will remain convinced that Barack Obama is just as committed to protecting our ally Israel as I would expect any president to be, and I’ll continue to base my actual vote on issues that matter.
Sphere: Related Content» Filed Under 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama, Israel, Jewish voters, wingnuts
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2 Responses to “Another Thought On Obama, The Jewish Vote, And Dumb Right-Wing Strategies”
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I’m not entirely sure that alienating Jewish voters from Obama is the purpose of this tactic (though it would certainly be a nice fringe benefit). My take is they are trying to paint Obama as anti-Isreal and therefore pro-Hamas-Hezbollah-Al qaeda-Scary Muslim, targeting “Middle America” and “Securiy [insert plural noun]“. It is just a partof their strategy to paint Obama as weak in defense.
Yeah, you may be absolutely right; it’s a thought I also considered. But it’s undeniable that guys like Boehner are at least superficially Jew-baiting even if that’s not their end goal, which, as a Jew, really pisses me off.