Weinstein: The men of Oslo, along with high-handed American intervention in the ”peace” process, have been utterly discredited in Israel and the U.S. Allow me to quote a speech I saw Prime Minister Sharon deliver on December 4 in Herzliya: Speaking of his ”special closeness” to the U.S., Sharon praised Bush’s ”understanding of Israel’s needs” as ”unprecedented,” and based in part ”on the lessons the Americans learned from the Clinton-Barak plan.”
Charen: It would not surprise me if Bush does better with Jewish voters than any Republican since Reagan. But one thing is certain: He deserves far more support than he will likely receive.
Jacoby: I’d say that Bush has improved his standing among American Jews less by his warm words for Sharon than by his unmistakable disgust for Yasir Arafat. The contrast with Clinton, who invited Arafat to the White House more than any other foreign dignitary, is palpable. Whether any of this will have a political impact depends on what else Bush does between now and the election, but I would be surprised if there isn’t at least some movement of American Jews — especially younger ones, who are less likely to be cemented in their party loyalties — toward the Republican Party.
Rauch: As I stated earlier, Jews who support a strong Israel are very pleased with Bush’s position, and his amiable relationship with Sharon is clearly a positive for the prime minister. Of course, to those Jews who (wrongly) view Sharon as a war criminal, Bush’s support for Sharon only aggravates them more.
What is keeping Jews from flocking to the Republican camp?
Brooks: I think the previous barriers to Jews supporting the GOP are coming down…as a result I believe we will see larger support for Republicans in the Jewish community going forward.
Weinstein: Longstanding historical habits are hard to break, but Jews are actually beginning to come to the Republican party….But it’s not Jewish votes that are most significant to the political process; it’s the political contributions Jews make and their voices in the media that matter far more than sheer electoral numbers. In both these categories, Bush is doing extremely well.
Jacoby: It’s an old story. Part of the answer is history: Jews coming to America from Europe often brought with them the habit of associating parties of the left with tolerance and emancipation — an association that made sense in a Europe where the most conservative parties were often the most anti-Semitic. But part of the answer is also theological: Liberalism is the religion of many secular American Jews, who have convinced themselves that the essence of being Jewish is being a good liberal — and of course to be a good liberal means to be a Democrat.
The perception that the Republican Party is the purview of the ”Christian right” and that the ”Christian right” is unfriendly to Jewish interests — an old and mostly unfair shibboleth — helps keep Jews away as well. Very slowly, this may be changing.
Charen: Many Jews are liberals first and Jews second. Being liberal is part of their identity. They often claim that liberalism is the philosophy that springs more naturally from Judaism, but this is a dubious argument. Judaism teaches personal responsibility, traditional morality, law and order, and forbids abortion except to save the life of the mother. Jews are also afraid of Christianity and believe that if the majority becomes more Christian, or expresses its Christian beliefs, life for Jews in America is diminished. Nearly every Jewish Democrat I know cites the so-called ”religious right” as the main reason he/she could never vote Republican.
