Heard About Obama, The Priest and The Rabbi?

This is not a "have-you-heard-the-one-about-the-priest-and-the-rabbi".

Martin Frost served Texas as a Congressman between 1979-2005, and was Democratic Caucus chairman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He thinks that there is a "disquieting parallels between the way Obama handled the recent dust-up with the Catholic Church and contraception and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a year ago, when he talked about returning to pre-1967 borders".  He termed them "self-inflicted wounds involved important voting blocs crucial to his reelection".

According to his projection, "the difference between receiving 75 percent of the Jewish vote and 65 percent of the Jewish vote could cost him several swing states with significant Jewish populations. Think Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio".

Let's stick to the Jewish angle, though, and let's read Frost (who may be chilling Obama):-

...When seeking consul, Obama also seems to listen to liberal Democrats who happen to be Jewish on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — rather than to Jewish Democratic politicians dedicated to his reelection.

...There is a small but vocal part of the American-Jewish community which believes Israel has not conceded enough to the Arabs in efforts to reach a peace settlement. This is largely political liberals, concerned about a wide range of issues of which Israel is only one [aka J Street and similar progressives].

The vast majority of the American-Jewish community, while Democratic, is deeply concerned about Israel’s future and worries when any U.S. president says anything that can be viewed as pushing Israel too hard...
The minute I heard Obama’s words about the pre-1967 borders, I picked up the phone and called the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council. My message was simple: “There’s trouble in River City.”

The problem was that Obama had not sufficiently laid the groundwork for his remarks. He had not clearly stated that this continued the policy of previous U.S. presidents – Democratic and Republican. He hadn’t made it clear that Israel would keep some settlements in previously held Arab land.

Obama largely repaired the damage in the days that followed. But many Jews remember only his first words on this...Ira Foreman [has] done a good job focusing the president’s message to the Jewish community.

...In future, Obama would do well to consult closely with Jewish and Catholic elected Democratic politicians about how to accomplish his policy goals. He needs to maintain the support of these two vital voting blocs.

Is Obama smart enough to take that advice?

I hope not.

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