Stumping for God's Endorsement - No Rush To Rosh Hashanah

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As mentioned in my previous column I recently signed up for all the candidates' faith-based email lists. On September 10, I received an email from Mitt Romney in commemoration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, (see slide number 1). I waited a few days to see which of the other candidates would send some sort of acknowledgement but none came.

I found that interesting so I went looking at each candidate's site to see who mentions the holiday at all; the result was two - Obama and Edwards, (see slides number 2 to 4). Romney actually says nothing about it on his site. Let me restate that: thirteen out of sixteen candidates for the Presidency of the United States do not refer at all to the holiday, which signifies the beginning of the Jewish high holy days. I find that stunning, as well as telling.

Stunning because even the candidates who have a sign up list specifically for Jewish supporters and one who has a blog group dedicated to the same coalition - Brownback - didn't mention a thing. None of them made a speech on the first day, no press releases and no planned events relating at all to any of the coming Jewish holidays.

Telling because it indicates that "faith" to the majority of the candidates, in both parties, relates solely to Christianity; I didn't see one mention from anyone about Ramadan either. It is still early in the campaigning process, as evidenced by the entrance of new contenders to the race, and therefore the campaigns are still gathering steam. However, it seems to me this would have been an excellent time to do as Romney did, or at the very least as Edwards and Obama did. It is just good politics to appeal to the broadest base possible. I am quite sure there is no time other than an election cycle when so many special interests are truly "special".

It is not impossible that the push for the backing of the religious sector could be as empty as the first Clinton's commitment to the homosexual sector was; it would certainly seem that way if there were to be only one belief represented. As Melissa Etheridge said to Hilary Clinton during the LOGO Debate on August 9, "...our hearts were broken. We were thrown under the bus. We were pushed aside. All those great promises that were made to us were broken." I have to wonder if the faith-based constituencies will feel this way a few years down the road.

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The above piece was produced through OffTheBus, a citizen journalism project hosted at the Huffington Post and launched in partnership with NewAssignment.Net. For more information, read Arianna Huffington's project introduction. If you'd like to join our blogging team, sign up here. If you're interested in other opportunities, you can see the list here.

Comments

[ConnerMcMaub]

Not surprised Mitt seems best organized. He is our nations first clone for president. I also wonder whether the other candidates have concluded that courting the Jewish vote can be accomplished by militantly supporting Israel. It would work with my father and grandfather.