Obama And The Jews

And he chose a gathering of the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, last March to deliver his presidential candidacy's first foreign policy speech. "Some of my earliest and most ardent supporters came from the Jewish community in Chicago," Obama told JTA in 2004, after his keynote speech galvanized the Democratic convention in Boston. Three years later, addressing the National Jewish Democratic Council's candidate's forum, he made the same point when he was asked about his ties with Arab Americans and Muslim Americans in Chicago. "My support within in the Jewish community has been much more significant than my support within the Muslim community," Obama said at the April forum, adding: "I welcome and seek the support of the Muslim and Arab communities." His Jewish followers are fervent, distributing "Obama '08" yarmulkes early in his campaign. His rock-star status as well as the relationships Obama has built in the community have helped avoided murmurings about his otherwise notable divergences from pro-Israel orthodoxies. In his AIPAC speech, for example, Obama favored diplomacy as a means of confronting Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. "While we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons," he said. AIPAC does not oppose diplomacy in engaging Iran, but dislikes it as an emphasis, believing that talks could buy the Iranian regime bomb-making time. But his words did not stop the Chicago hotel ballroom packed with 800 AIPAC members from cheering Obama on. A few weeks later, Obama drew more rubberneckers than any other candidate attending AIPAC's policy forum in Washington -- drawing away onlookers from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) although she outpolls Obama among Jewish voters. No one winced when he said that Palestinian needs must be considered in working out a peace deal, although that's hardly standard AIPAC pep talk. . . . http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13849&Itemid=86

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