Editor’s Note: FrontPageMag.com’s Jamie Glazov recently conducted a symposium, highlights of which follow, on American Jewish voters and their attitudes toward President Bush. Taking part in the discussion were Ken Weinstein, vice president and director of Hudson Institute’s Washington office; Mona Charen, a syndicated columnist whose provocative book Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First has just been released; Jeff Jacoby, an op-ed columnist for The Boston Globe; Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition; and Marc Rauch, a multi-award winning TV/film writer, producer, and director (whose op-ed columns have appeared in The Jewish Press.)
In the last election Jews voted 80 percent for Al Gore and the party that architected the Oslo disaster. Since then George W. Bush has declared war on terrorism and identified Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian authority as terrorists. How has this affected the Jewish community?
Brooks: There is no doubt that the principled and committed support for Israel that President Bush has demonstrated since taking office is having a profound effect in the Jewish community. The leadership of President Bush and the Republicans in Congress with regard to Israel provides a stark contrast to the support offered by the Democratic party recently. It is this strong contrast that is causing many people in the Jewish community to take an open-minded look at supporting the Republican party, and this is one reason why we believe that there is a significant political shift taking place in the Jewish community today away from the Democratic party.
Weinstein: Like most Americans horrified by September 11, Jews have taken great solace from President Bush’s policies against radical Islam. But with Jews, it goes beyond mere solace. With the rise of the Al-Aqsa intifada, the past couple of years have been the darkest in Jewish history since the end of World War II. Jews have circled the wagons to a degree unseen since the Six-Day War. President Bush’s heartfelt concern for the State of Israel, his principled desire to reshape the Middle East, and his willingness to be the only international leader to unmask Arafat’s terror regime, has been a beacon of hope in a very dark night. Depending on who is the Democratic nominee in 2004, Bush has a great opportunity to match or exceed the historic high watermark of Jewish vote for a Republican presidential candidate — the 39 percent that Ronald Reagan got in 1980.
Charen: Some cracks have appeared in the concrete of Jewish allegiance to Democrats. I’ve written several columns about this in the year and a half since 9/11 and have received countless letters from Jews saying ”I’m going to vote Republican next time around.” There are also rumblings in the organized Jewish community. Still, my people are a stubborn lot and I wouldn’t expect any major shift in ’04.
Jacoby: Many American Jews find it difficult — almost congenitally difficult — to speak well of a Republican, but President Bush has made it a little easier. The importance of his June 24, 2002, speech cannot be underestimated: It marked the first time a US president made it clear that Arafat’s goon squad must be replaced with ”a new and different Palestinian leadership,” one ”not compromised by terror.” Bush — unlike his father — clearly feels a gut-level support for Israel, and American Jews are not blind to this. My sense is that there is a low but growing level of appreciation for Bush in the Jewish community.
Rauch: The portion of the Jewish community that supports a Jewish homeland is clearly pleased that an American president has come out so strongly against Arafat, terrorism as a weapon against Israel, and the Arabs’ self-destructive policies. Assuming that events stay pretty much as they’ve been, and barring some kind of military disaster for the U.S. in the Middle East (which I don’t expect), there should be more Jewish support for Bush’s re-election. I, for one, will vote for him, and I didn’t in the last election.
