This Jennifer Rubin article in the J-Post explains why Jewish Americans still don’t trust Sen. Obama. The great thing about this article is that it provides a historical perspective on American presidents; devotion to Israel, then uses that historical perspective to explain why Jewish voters will be hesitant to vote for Sen. Obama:

Prime minister Golda Meir had miscalculated Anwar Sadat’s willingness to go to war and decided against a first strike against Egypt. The Arab nations attacked in October 1973, and within days Israel was facing defeat.

The Israelis went to president Richard Nixon with a request for a massive infusion of arms. The Defense and State Departments squabbled. Our European allies, who feared an oil embargo (and would refuse us bases to refuel our planes), inveighed against it, and the Soviets blustered. Many on Nixon’s staff wanted to deny the request, or offer only token assistance. Don’t antagonize the Arab states, they counseled.

Nixon persisted and, according to some accounts, doubled the amount of aid Israel had requested. Riding herd on the bureaucrats, Nixon repeatedly intervened to push the transports along. Informed about a dispute regarding the type of air transportation, Nixon at one point exclaimed in frustration: “Tell them to send everything that can fly.” Over the course of a month US airplanes conducted 815 sorties with over 27,900 tons of materiel.

Nixon left no doubt about whether he’d stand with Israel when things were at their most dangerous point. “Tell them to send everything that can fly” is a great way to let the bureaucrats know who set American foreign policy. It was something that Meir appreciated greatly.

There’s something else that needs to be factored into this, namely, the gas crisis that was right around the corner. Richard Nixon knew this wouldn’t be popular with the Arab nations. Nixon could’ve done a ‘on the one hand…on the other hand’ thing. He could’ve delayed his decision. He didn’t. He knew what the right thing to do was and he did what was right without delay or hesitation.

Here’s what the Obamessiah said at the AIPAC conference:

There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations. That is why I opposed holding elections in 2006 with Hamas on the ballot. The Israelis and the Palestinian Authority warned us at the time against holding these elections. But this administration pressed ahead, and the result is a Gaza controlled by Hamas, with rockets raining down on Israel.

Sen. Obama’s speech was on June 5, 2008. Here’s Reuters’ article from later that week:

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama amended his support for Israel’s stance on Jerusalem on Thursday, saying Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the future of the holy city. Palestinian leaders reacted with anger and dismay on Wednesday to Obama saying Jerusalem should be Israel’s undivided capital.

“Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations,” Obama told CNN when asked whether Palestinians had no future claim to the city…In Washington on Wednesday, Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby group, that if elected president in November, he would work for peace with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” he told the lobby group.

What’s needed is a ‘one-armed’ foreign policy towards Israel. Sen. Obama tends too often to dither with ‘on one hand, on the other hand’ things. He isn’t decisive. That’s why Jewish voters won’t trust him.

There are lots of Jewish voters who won’t vote Republican if their life depended on it. That group will simply stay home. Either that or they’ll vote for all the Democratic candidates except Sen. Obama. Other Jewish voters aren’t that stubborn. Many in that category will vote for John McCain.

The electoral implications are simple: If Sen. Obama doesn’t win these voters over, Sen. Obama can kiss Florida goodbye.

Technorati Tags: Obama, Nixon, Jewish Vote, Israel, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. I can’t understand why American Jews are so placid over the prospect of Obama becoming president. With knowledge of his ideology, it boggles my mind that they would actually hold meetings to listen to him, let alone consider voting for him. Maybe it shows that loyalty to a political party is becoming more powerful than G-d and country.

   Comment by Frank — July 3, 2008 @ 6:46 am

2. It’s a mindset not peculiar to Jews alone, Frank.

   “We’ve always voted Democrat”, “if it was good enough for grandad it’s good enough for me”.
   Hell-oh! Obama is no FDR! He’s not even a JFK!!

   Comment by T.A Gray — July 3, 2008 @ 7:24 am

3. Because Hussein is a Muslim.

   Comment by Liem — July 3, 2008 @ 9:32 am

4. June 27, 2008, 4:04 pm
   McCain’s Secret Plan to Conscript Aliens Crossing into US.
   Alex Frangos reports on the presidential race.

   John McCain says in almost every stump speech that he knows how to capture Osama bin Laden and that he’d follow the al Qaeda leader to the “Gates of Hell.” What he seems to be implying is that he might take extraordinary measures like using captured illegals coming into the United States and deploying them in Pakistan to assist with capturing bin Laden when he becomes president.

   McCain
   “One thing I will not do is telegraph my punches. Osama bin Laden will be the last to know,” he said today while riding on the back of his bus between Florida events. In other words: he’s not telling. Why not share his strategy with the current occupant of the White House? “Because I have my own ideas and it would require implementation of certain policies and procedures that only as the president of the United States can be taken.”

   That response, of course, echoes Richard Nixon’s campaign promise in 1968 to stop the Vietnam War. Nixon also declined to say what his plan was. America’s involvement in the Vietnam war continued until 1973.

   As for the Gates of Hell themselves, McCain says he knows all about them. “I think I’ve been close,” he joked.

   Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/27/mccains-secret-plan-to-capture-bin-laden/

   Comment by Fred Holland — July 7, 2008 @ 5:14 pm