Memo to American Jews: Listen to Ed Koch and Vote for Barack Obama

Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy month.

Now that the McCain-Palin crowd have figured out that they are on course to lose the White House, expect a resurgence of all the sleazy and all too familiar GOP tactics designed to appeal to the basest prejudices and most primal fears of the American electorate. Look for all the old calumnies and lies to resurface: Barack Obama is a Moslem, or was a Moslem, or could be a Moslem. Obama is a radical, or was a radical, or knows a radical. Obama is an anti-Semite, or was an anti-Semite, or knows an anti-Semite. Obama supports sex education for kindergartners. Obama will raise everyone's taxes. Obama is somehow un-American because, well, he doesn't look like us (hint, hint). Remember the vile swift-boating of John Kerry four years ago? Be prepared for the updated, vitriolically enhanced 2008 version.

It has already started. Yesterday, Sarah Palin publicly accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." Since she uttered this incendiary smear on the very day that a front-page New York Times article conclusively debunked the notion that Senator Obama has had anything but the most superficial contacts with Bill Ayers, a founder of the radical Weathermen of the late 1960s and early 1970s, not only Governor Palin but her handlers and speechwriters knew perfectly well that her allegation was blatantly false. They also know that Obama has called Ayers "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8." But none of this matters to the scorched earth Svengalis of the McCain-Palin campaign.

The GOP's unprincipled electioneering is likely to become especially ugly in the Jewish community. We are certain to hear Joe Lieberman's sonorous voice shamelessly distorting Barack Obama's record and trying to scare elderly Jewish retirees to vote Republican.

Here's an urgent memo to Jews in South Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada (not to mention New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois and elsewhere) who listened to Ed Koch rather than Joe Lieberman in 2004: Please do so again this year!

Four years ago, Lieberman endorsed and campaigned for John Kerry, while former New York Mayor Ed Koch strongly supported George W. Bush. Indeed, the Republican ticket's success in Florida was credited in large part to Koch's endorsement. As between Koch and Lieberman, the Jews living in the Sunshine State clearly considered Koch to be the more credible.

I don't know what makes Joe Lieberman tick. The Connecticut Senator, who used to care about civil liberties, choice, gay rights, and the like, has stood by silently while the McCain campaign has spread lie after lie about Barack Obama in their ads. He looked the other way while his new cronies mocked Obama relentlessly at the Republican Convention. Earlier this summer, when he was being considered by McCain as a possible running mate, New York Times columnist Gail Collins described Lieberman as "a guy who will do anything to move up" and who "is certainly capable of dumping everything he has ever believed in and assuring the anti-choice, anti-union, anti-government folk that he is on their team."

This time around, Ed Koch is supporting Barack Obama. In 2004, Koch believed that George W. Bush was going to be better for Israel than John Kerry. Less than a week ago, Koch told a Jewish audience in Florida that this year, the Democratic and Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates "are all in support of the security of Israel; that is no longer on the table. Take it from me, I know. I know Israel would be protected by an Obama-Biden administration."

Ed Koch is absolutely right, of course. Barack Obama has a consistent record of strong, unwavering support for Israel. In June of this year, Senator Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, that "Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is nonnegotiable." In a similar vein, Obama has been unambiguous in his opposition to Iran's nuclear ambitions. "I will do everything in my power," he said in his AIPAC speech, "to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." Obama also has longstanding ties to the Jewish community and shares the values of the overwhelming majority of American Jews.

When Ed Koch first endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket, he explained that:

"the country is safer in the hands of Barack Obama . . . . Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks. It includes defending the public with respect to their civil rights, civil liberties and other needs, e.g., national health insurance, the right of abortion, the continuation of Social Security, gay rights, other rights of privacy, fair progressive taxation and a host of other needs and rights.

"If the vice president were ever called on to lead the country, there is no question in my mind that the experience and demonstrated judgment of Joe Biden is superior to that of Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is a plucky, exciting candidate, but when her record is examined, she fails miserably with respect to her views on the domestic issues that are so important to the people of the U.S., and to me. Frankly, it would scare me if she were to succeed John McCain in the presidency."

It would have been nice, even honorable, if we could have had an election campaign based on ideas and ideals, but the Republican attack machine knows that it cannot compete on such a level playing field. The McCain-Palin campaign is convinced that the only way they can win is by scaring and lying and defaming. It's up to the voters to send them back into their caves or under their rocks. And to all of you across the United States who look up to and respect Ed Koch for his honesty and personal integrity, I repeat: If you followed Ed Koch's lead rather than Joe Lieberman's in 2004, please follow Ed Koch's lead again on November 4th and vote for Barack Obama.

Menachem Rosensaft is a lawyer in New York City

Comments

[barkanomics]

How are elderly people, not just Jewish people going to react to McCain's plan to cut Medicare and Medical? When that info starts getting out, there will be no votes in Florida for McCain

[abarafi]

The majority of Jews in America came over in steerage from eastern Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were poor, they were "huddled masses," and they were eager to be free of pogroms and world-class anti-Semites. In those days most Jews voted for progressives because they believed their fates were part of the common cause of poor American non-Jews. A Jewish Republican in the days of Harding, Hoover and Howard Taft was an oxymoron. Now, however, there are Jewish neocons like Wolfowitz, Pearl, and others, plus Republican Conservatives like Eric Cantor. What a shame! But most Jews are still progressive minded. Many have gone from a lower middle-class birth to making six-figure incomes. By all logic, they should have been voting for Reagan and the other conservatives. But they continue to vote for people who are truly looking out for the welfare of the poorest of us. This is part of Torah. It told Jews to leave a part of our fields unpicked so that the poor could gather food for themselves. It told them to give Tzedakah - money for those less fortunate. So, I trust each individual Jew will do the right thing based on his own sense of what's good for all of us. And, if they do, Obama has nothing to fear about Jewish voter support.

[PaulL2]

I grew up in a Jewish household and as such, I am not supposed to believe that spirits of the dead come back to Earth. But the spirits of my parents, who are now deceased, would strike me down like the sword of G-d if I voted for McCain. Something has been forgotten in this discussion about elderly Jews. They venerate FDR. To twist a bumper sticker and movie title, if G-d is my copliot, then FDR is my pilot. Elderly Jews, like elderly people elsewhere in the US, either experienced the Depression, or their parents experienced the Depression. The Depression and FDR live large in the memories of all elderly people. Looking around at the current chaos, wrought by the same Republicans who gave us the Depression, McCarthyism, and the S&L Crisis, there are simply too many parallels. This is not 2000 or 2004, and those memories of FDR will come percolating back to the forefront. I think many elderly voters will vote Democratic because they recognize that policies like FDR advocated are exactly what is needed now.

[WolfI]

Sarah Palin supported Pat Buchanan for president.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9rZkJfKoEU

That fact, alone, should keep Jews away from the McCain/Palin ticket, as no legitimized, currently living politician has been a more vocal anti-Semite. Anyone else remember how, right after the votes were announced by county in the 2000 election in Florida Pat Buchanan said there was no way those Jews voted for him? The idea that a person who supported Buchanan could possibly be good for Jews or Israel is outrageous.

If you have Jewish grandparents in Florida, or know people in Florida, there is a movement afoot to for you to go and talk some sense into your relatives and get them to vote for Obama. The Sarah Silverman video alone is worth a visit to the site.

http://www.thegreatschlep.com/site/index.html

[isi]

This may have already been posted here. But, I want to link to it again. A wonderful video entitled "Israelis for Obama"
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=K2VFRt5W4FM

[opines]

Just like any other ethnic or religious subsection of the American electorate, Jewish Americans have their share of racists.

Many elderly Jewish voters only contact with blacks has been with menials who have worked for them. They simply cannot conceive that a black is smarter than they are. They find it difficult to accept that a black will reach the White House before a Jew.

On Israel, they think of GWB as the 'best 'friend' of Israel ever to sit in the Oval Office'. They do not want a President who will be fair to the Palestinians. They want a President who can be counted on to be one-sided in favor of even oppressive Israeli policies, not even supported by a majority of Jewish Israelis.

Until this election Mayor Koch has been in lock step with such thinking.

An Obama victory will marginalize the likes of AIPAC, and Sen. Lieberman and will be an important step toward a just solution of the Israili-Palestinian dilemma.

[mbrook4949]

And notwithstanding your anti-Jewish sentiments, the fact remains: Jews will vote for Obama in far greater numbers than will gentiles.

[WolfI]

And many "elderly" Jewish voters marched along with Dr. King, fought for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, worked to integrate schools, give all access to the polls, and battled inside and outside courtrooms with groups like the Klan. Sure, every group has people with prejudice, but don't discount or diminish the people who have been working since the 1950s to see the day a man of color could be president. I can't help but believe that some of those people have retired to Florida, and haven't lost their sense of justice.

[jeffepops]

With all due respect, you are talking (writing) out of your ass. More Jews will vote for Obama than any other white ethnic/religious group in this country -- by a large majority.

Some Jews are racists, but less so than others. Your understanding of Jewish relations with blacks as "menials" -- a rather derogatory term, by the way -- is very limited. Conflicts between Jews and Blacks have been much more complex; I won't try to school you here, but read up about the New York City teacher strikes in the '60's, Crown Heights, Louis Farrakhan, etc. If that's too challenging a task, rent the film "The Pawnbroker".

By the way, many AIPAC board members are strong Obama supporters; Obama was warmly received when he spoke at AIPAC a few months ago. Personally, I'm very pro-Israel and a strong Obama supporter.

[mommamia526]

You do not know the latest one yet. I do not know whether it comes from youtube or elsewhere, but it is peddled as the *truth*, or at least that is the inuendo: *Obama has his own version of the HITLERJUGEND*...FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Some jews have never heard anything jewish, apparently, such as that slander equates murder. I found this gem on www. israelnn.com today in one of the blogs.

[WilliamL]

If anyone is interested in editorials regarding who to vote for and why in the S FL Jewish community, at least from one who has and editorial column, take a look at Rachel Patron's article in the Sun-sentinel.

Her editorial is one of the most disturbing things I have scene come out during this season.

WWW.sun-sentinel.com-Rachel Patron. This "editorial" needs to go up on this site and across the country.

She speaks about piles of bodies, Iran, never again, and will let others read for themselves. I wd. encourage the writer of this article to give it a look as well.

[K.J. Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

If there was anything resembling fairness in the MSM, there would have been a little more attention paid to the following:

On August 17, 2008 Sarah Palin attended an event at the Wasilla Bible Church where she is a member. From CNN:

"Palin now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. She was there on August 17, just days before entering the national spotlight. David Brickner, the founder of Jews for Jesus, was a speaker. He told congregants that terrorist attacks on Israel were God's "judgment" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity. Brickner said, "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it."" CNN, Sept. 9, 2008 http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/08/palin.pastor/index.html

Palin WAS IN ATTENDANCE and when her pastor was asked whether he concurred with Brickner's assessment, he solemnly nodded and said "yes."

Has Palin been pressured to give a speech on "Anti-Semetism in America" the way that Obama was to deliver a speech on Race after the Wright scandal (where, by the way, Obama was NOT in attendance when Wright made his incendiary remarks)?

Palin is nothing short of a horror show for Jewish voters and she's being effectively marketed as a great friend of Israel.

Please, someone, explain this to me?

[MovingtoNorway]

You can't explain insanity.

[SimonNZ]

I saw Lieberman revving up the crowd at Palin's Florida rally on Fixed News today. He has truly sold his soul and I really felt like I needed a sick bucket.

I'm sure some Vichy traitor gave a speech just like his to announce the arrival of France's wonderful new Nazi rulers.

Shame! Shame! Shame!

[Aaror]

I'm related to Jewish people (my Grandparents were Jewish, but they are my father's parents, so it doesn't count), and here is my fear:
McCain is elected, after a year or so, he dies of Cancer, and Palin becomes president. In accordance with her understanding of the Bible, she encourages a war between the Islamic states and Isreal, expecting that Jesus will appear. She uses nuclear weapons to "protect," Isreal, bathing the entire area in radioactive dust which causes severe health problems for Isreal for a century (see Chernobyl for an example). Then she offers to allow any Jews who have realized the "truth," of Christ citizenship in the US...
If you don't believe me, read any book in the "left behind," series, and realize these folks think it is a realistic book.

[OutragedMom]

Honey, if the fascists take over again, it counts.

[FRANCISMOGU]

I love Israel and Jews like I love my Bible - the word of GOD! Thank you Mr. Menachem Rosensaft for stating issues correctly! Candidates for the elections should be judged purely from the perspective of issues or what they plan to offer to the American people, not from other petty or flimsy viewpoint. The United States is now in dire need of economic and political redemption and all hands should be on deck to ensure that a new and refreshing Democratic dispensation takes office in January 2009. Barack Obama offers that dreamy perspective. He needs the support of all Americans in order to actualize his great ideas for the good of all Americans. Hopefully, on January 20, 2009, Americans would once again sing 'Happy Days are Here Again'!

[roshni]

Excellent article!
Don't forget the butterfly ballot where so many elderly Jewish people were made to vote for Pat Buchanan.
The GOP have used and abused you.

[OutragedMom]

Look, I despise the current incarnation of the Grand Old Party as much as you do. However, as a victim of the butterfly ballot in 2000, even I am not willing to blame the GOP for that unholy mess.
That was the design of our erstwhile Supervisor of Elections and she had no ties to Repubs that I know of.

[LiberalDemIda]

OutragedMom ~ There is evidence that although she had registered herself as a Democrat, her husband and family are all registered Republicans. Madame Butterfly is a DINO plant.

But here are some tantalizing tidbits from the St. Petersburg Times online:

Another Democrat also is running, activist Ellie Whittey. Glenn MacLean, an engineer, is running without party affiliation like LePore.

With about $40,000 in campaign contributions, LePore has raised more money than all of her opponents combined.

LePore's critics concede she will be tough to unseat.

"She's been in the job a long time," said Joan Joseph, a Palm Beach County Democratic activist. "But most of the people I know and speak with absolutely do not like the job she's done."

Joseph and other Democrats contend that LePore is supported by Republican money."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/01/news_pf/State/Elections_chief_seeks.shtml

Consequently, LePore lost her seat to Author Anderson, a REAL Democrat but she isn't done until January which means she can eff up one more election.

How was she able to out-raise her three Democratic contenders? Republican's backed her. Why would Republicans back a Democrat? That's the $40,000 dollar question, isn't it?

Here's a link as to just how deep the republicans have dug in hiding behind LePore:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1101-33.htm

Oh, you *should* blame the Republicans for that unholy mess. They earned that judgment, as the time-line shows.

GObama/Biden '08/'12!

[theblueAmerican]

Joe Lieberman has marginalized himself by backing John McCain. Put his money on the wrong horse. I know they are friends and I can respect that but Barack Obama will do more to make America and Israel secure. A sound energy policy and a properly focused military working in Afghanistan will help. A slowdown in the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe will force Putin to step up and put pressure on Iran to stop developing nukes.

[LiberalDemIda]

I don't know why older Jewish people would discriminate against Obama or anyone else.

The Jewish people I know are kind, open-minded and sharp and they know all too well the atrocities committed against the Jews all over the world but most infamously in Germany because of their religion and coloring.

I believe Ed Koch can talk to them and speak to their innate common sense and they will vote for Obama come November.

GObama/Biden '08/'12!

[mommamia526]

The Republican Party is *advertising* agressively on Israeli websites. Israelis are right in the middle of the seat of terrorism and are afraid of them. They are encircled on all sides, and Iran funds this terrorism. There are even *freedomboats* of liberals going to Gaza to demand the *liberation of Gazans*. I thought they were Liberated not so long ago. Christians are also very active in Israel, a.o. Jews for Jesus. The PSA is said to be joining Hezbullah, and there were in the past rumors of Hamas and Hezbullah going together. They have a right to believe as they do, but they do not have a right to pretend to be something (jewish) they are not. As in the U.S. The Republican Party and the christians are praying on fear. The causes of this fear, however, have been exarcerbated by Republican policies, such as the *roadmap*.

[LiberalDemIda]

Oh, I see. Thanks mommamia.

On the other hand, Jewish people are incredibly intelligent and they'll soon enough understand that the policies of the Repub party over the past decade has only exasberated the tension in the Middle East and that Bush's "hands-off" policies in the Middle East is the cause of the anger within their enemies' countries.

I recall when Israel attacked Lebanon because of the missing Jewish soldiers and they wanted to launch a full-out war against Hezbollah, the Israeli people stopped their government short in their tracks when a poll showed 80% of the Israeli people didn't want war even though they'd been bombed and Israeli were murdered.

I have the greatest respect for the Israeli people. Good Middle-East policies will help bring peace to that region but McCain is not the man to do it. I'm sure they see that too.

GObama/Biden '08/'12!