Political Insider: Presidential Portents at ADL Meeting
Posted By James BesserPolitical Insider: Presidential Portents at ADL Meeting
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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) may be as close as it gets to a group reflecting the activist core of Jewish politics: focused heavily on Israel, worried about anti-Semitism, staunch church-state separationists and civil rights supporters.
So the political buzz at its national leadership meetings in Washington this week may offer some clues about the problems facing the presidential candidates as they seek Jewish votes.
At a presidential surrogates forum yesterday (moderated by this reporter), there were some alarming signs for Sen. Barack Obama, who leads the bitter race for the Democratic nomination.
Obama was represented by Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-Tenn.), who created a stir when he came to the defense of former President Jimmy Carter, who was snubbed by Israel during a visit this week because of his claim Israel practices apartheid, his planned meeting with a top Hamas leader and other sins.
It should be noted that there are plenty of Jews who defend Carter - and on Tuesday the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz ran an editorial stating that Israel owes the former president the "respect reserved for royalty for the rest of his life" for his role in the Camp David accords.
But praising Carter is hardly the thing to do when you're speaking on behalf of Obama, who is trying to convince pro-Israel voters and campaign contributors that he wants nothing to do with the anti-Israel left.
Cohen acknowledged as much when he returned to the subject a little later on and said "I probably make a mistake" in talking positively about the ex-president.
Then there was the Jeremiah Wright controversy, which kept surfacing - in questions, in responses from the other panelists, in the buzz in the hallways.
Polls suggest Obama has largely overcome the controversy with Democrats in general, but a highly unscientific glimpse of the ADL crowd suggests they are far from satisfied. Almost every time Wright's name came up it was coupled to that of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
And you know about Farrakhan.
Sen. John McCain was represented by former CIA director James Woolsey, who argued that the Bush administration has been too willing to "pressure" Israel and too soft on Iran. Speaking for Sen. Hillary Clinton was longtime adviser and Democratic activist Ann Lewis, who scored points with the ADL crowd by suggesting her candidate, if elected, will dismantle the Bush administration's extensive faith based initiative.
Interestingly, all three stayed clear of the question of the personal faiths of their champions -- possibily because sitting right up front was ADL leader Abe Foxman, who has been critical of the growing use of religion as fodder in the partisan wars.
ADL is not a perfect mirror of a broader Jewish community that is probably much less focused on Israel, but it probably does reflect the pro-Israel activist segment of the community - which is the target of all three candidates as they seek Jewish votes and money.