Muted Jewish Reaction to President Bush's Last State of the Union
Posted By James BesserPolitical Insider: Muted Jewish Reaction to President Bush's Last State of the Union
.jpg)
Jewish groups didn't have a lot to say in response to President Bush's final State of the Union address on Monday, but the Orthodox Union was cheered by one element of the speech.
OU officials praised Bush for proposing a permanent extension of his "charitable choice" programs. (read the statement here)
Those programs make it easier for sectarian groups to get federal grant money to provide human services. Orthodox Jewish groups say that levels the playing field, giving their own services a chance to compete with secular agencies and religious groups operating under old guidelines that require a strict separation of sectarian and service functions.
But church-state groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations, say such programs erode church-state protections by blurring the line between functions.
"We applaud the President's commitment to ensuring that faith-based organizations are not restrained from providing services to their communities," said Nathan Diament, the OU's public policy director. "Faith-based organizations play a crucial role in serving the needs of their local communities and should not be prohibited from receiving federal funds for the work they do."
Liberal Jewish groups were unusually silent in response to the proposal - mostly, one leading Jewish activist said, because nobody expects any congressional action on programs like charitable choice this year.
Barbara Weinstein, legislative director for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, offered a measured response to the speech.
"A lot of what we heard in the speech we've heard before in different formats," she said. "We welcomed his recognition of the need to address climate change; we found some of his comments about immigration positive."
But she said the group has "concerns about where the president is going on issues like stem cell research and health care; we can't just leave health care to the private sector and health savings accounts."
On a related note: as usual, many senators and House members sent out statements reacting to the speech hours before it was given - Democrats expressing disappointment, Republicans touting the President's comments.
"Embargoed until speech," many of the press releases were headlined. Apparently President Bush wasn't expected to change many opinions on key issues of the day.
What did Bush say on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the resolution of which is his administration's top foreign policy priority in this last year?
See that portion of the speech here: