Panic among the Democrats on the Jewish front. Ron Kampeas reports on a call to Jews from Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic congresswoman and head of the Democratic National Committee, along with Robert Wexler, the FL congressman turned Israel lobbyist, reminding Jewish Dems about our “values.”
Notice the defensiveness on Wasserman Schultz’s part and the real fear that Rick Perry will be able to peel away Jews on this issue (here’s the Dems new website: Jews have never had a better friend than Obama– just what New York Magazine says, in declaring Obama a Jewish president). Kampeas:
[Wasserman Schultz said,] “Beyond Israel there is nothing, I mean nothing that the Republicans are proposing …. That are in line with our values.”
She also acknowledges nervousness about Obama.
“I know many of you feel overwhelmed by the partisan fearmongering and deliberate distortions of our president’s record on Israel.
“The uncertainty within the community continues for many.”
…There is, however, a GOP/conservative response to the call and the website that seems to have real legs: Wasserman Schultz and Wexler were hyperdefensive about Obama’s failure so far to visit Israel as president.@DWSTweets protests too much on BHO not going to #Israel; it stands out b/c he was in the neighborhood for Cairo speech but stayed away.
The first Jewish leader to ask Obama why he was not planning a visit to Israel, way back in the summer of 2009 — a month or so after his Cairo speech — was Debra DeLee, the CEO of Americans for Peace Now. He still hasn’t adequately answered.
None of their answers — Reagan never went, GW Bush waited seven years, etc. etc. — got to the point, succinctly put by the Republican Jewish Coalition in a tweet:
