Obama's Jewish Supporters, Are they Happy NOW?

Its only been five weeks, but the President has made great strides to prove what many in the conservative community were warning the Jewish voters, Obama will not be their side when it comes to "Jewish Issues."

• Durban II- Not only has he agreed to participate in this anti-Israel, anti-Jewish conference, but when US representatives attended their first meeting, they remained silent when the Holocaust was denied by the chairman of the committee, and when slanderous resolutions about Israel were passed.
  

• Chas Freeman appointed as NIC chair. The Head of the MEPC runs organizations that push an Anti Israel agenda that goes beyond the pale of normal thinking even for someone who is anti-Israel. Freeman runs magazine that claims the Iraq war was waged to help Israel.  He subscribes the the "Walt and Mearsheimer contention that the Israel Lobby (a nice way of saying Jews) control the US Foreign policy.  His MEPC political action group publishes a Workbook that teaches our children that the Muslims discovered the "New World" and the "Indians" who met the English Explorers all had Muslim names. 

• Gaza Aid- The President has committed to give almost one BILLION dollars to rebuild Gaza. It is an impossibility that the money will not end up in Hamas hands. That money will be used to purchase more sophisticated weapons for the terrorist group to fire at Israel.

• Clinton's Admonition-As predicted the Secretary of State has fallen back to the positions she held before she was a Senator and need the Jewish Vote. Her latest move is to pressure Israel to Open up the Gaza crossings, in other words Israel giving up its only "chip" for nothing. I bet you Soha Arafat would give her another big hug and kiss for that. 

I have focused on the "foreign policy" decisions which should be disturbing to the Jewish community, my friend Ed Lasky takes a look at some of the domestic policy reasons why Obama's Jewish voters may be disappointed with their vote:

Obama and his Jewish supporters Ed Lasky

The Jewish electorate supported Barack Obama by a wide margin, greater than the population as a whole - giving him 78% of their vote, as opposed to 53% from the general population. Partly this was due to the leading role Jews have played in helping the African-American population, a Democrat-leaning cohort, and concern over the economy given the decline in the stock market and the economy as the campaign came to a close. Jews trusted that Obama would help America recover and, incidentally, support the America-Israel relationship.


How is that support now working out? Obama is wavering in his support for the America-Israel relationship; how are those assurances on the domestic front playing out?

Jews are older on average than the rest of the American population. They also probably have a higher rate of home ownership. Because of a history of employment discrimination, they also have a higher rate of ownership of small businesses. Likewise, they probably have a greater percentage of their assets in the stock market. Education is a strong value among Jews: a college degree is considered a way to develop skills that would insulate Jews from discrimination. They also give a higher percentage of their income to charity -- and not necessarily focused exclusively on Jewish charities. There is a religious obligation in Judaism to give to help others.

Since Obama's win, and the election of a Democratic Congress impervious to calls for bipartisanship, the stock and real estate markets and the economy have plummeted. Which group is probably hurting disproportionally? That is right: the Jews.

Obama has gone on the warpath, trash-talking the stock market and business in general (possibly helping spark antisemitism as he demonizes Wall Street and bankers -- old antisemitic tropes). He actually dismissed concerns about the collapse of the stock market in a remark that received almost no coverage but certainly was unpresidential and, frankly, scary.

The stock market fall has devastated the retirement plans of millions of Americans, and the older cohort (disproportionately Jews) will suffer disproportionally. Savings meant to pay for the college education of children have been eviscerated.

A raft of new regulations will make it more difficult for small businesses to operate. Higher marginal rates will take a toll. The new rules on tax deductibility of mortgage interest will hurt homeowners. The cut on deductions taken for charitable donations will impact the ability of Americans to fund their charitable plans.

These harmful consequences harm all Americans. But, because of the demographics and dynamics of the Jewish community, the impact will fall very harshly on that group. Undoubtedly, many will be happy about this state of affairs.

Will his Jewish supporters feel happy? Are they feeling happy now?