So for the loyal friends and family, some of which actually read this thing, I apologize for my lack of posting.
So here is a quick post- I read this article yesterday in the NY Times:
Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama
By JODI KANTOR
Jewish voters are vital to Barack Obama’s hopes, but among many older Jews, he has become a conduit for anxiety about Israel, Iran, anti-Semitism and race.
What really struck me beyond the obvious generational divide between would-be young and old jewish voters, was just flat out how many old, stereotypical Broward County type Jews are ready to give Obama the hook for all of the wrong reasons. It’s one thing to hate on him for his potential policies, willingness to talk to Iran, Rev. Wright, or the uncertainty of his Israel stance. These are all legitimate issues and worthy of discussion.
I’m not even talking about the ones basing their info on Internet rumors and wrong information. That is not so bad because with a little research, viewpoints can shift. I’m talking about the ones in the article who don’t want to vote for him based on association, like this for example-
“Other voters called Mr. Obama’s endorsement by the Rev. Jesse Jackson problematic, because Mr. Jackson once called New York “Hymietown” (even though he later apologized) and has made other comments offensive to Jews.”
Gimme a break! You can only take guilt by association so far. I mean Obama was like 23 at the time and nowhere near public office when Jackson said that. How is that even relevant?
But if you read between the lines, ultimately most of these old school Jews don’t want to vote for him because as some would put it- “He’s a schvatza!”
Black and Jews haven’t had the greatest relations in the past couple of decades, but this old type of racism doesn’t really help. My people are always very keen on remembering the past and that is a great thing when you can learn from it to move forward. But it is unproductive when you still live in it, letting it always decide how you should proceed in the future.
With this in mind, it should be interesting to see how Obama does in Florida when he really starts to campaigning down there.
