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February 10, 2012
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
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Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
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Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
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Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
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Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
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Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
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Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
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January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
July 31, 2008
/ 28 Tamuz 5768
Is Obama one of us?
By
Cokie and Steve Roberts
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
That's the question many voters will be asking themselves over the next three months. How they answer it will probably decide who takes the oath in January.
Barack Obama's spectacular world tour ecstatic crowds, brilliant visuals, a virtual endorsement from the French president has convinced the infatuated intelligentsia that balloting is a mere formality. But don't be fooled. This election is far from over. And in his cooler moments, Obama is a shrewd politician who knows that those 200,000 adoring Berliners don't vote in Dayton or Daytona.
"This is going to be a close election for a long time," he told a fundraiser this week, "because I'm new on the national scene and some people sort of like what they see but they're still unsure."
They sure are unsure. Real Clear Politics, which averages all national polls, puts Obama's lead at a mere 2.6 points, 46.3 per cent to John McCain's 43.7 percent. And the key states that have decided the last two elections are even closer: In Ohio, Obama's margin is 1.5 percent; Florida is dead even; and McCain leads in Missouri by 2.5 points.
A look inside those numbers shows why voters are "still unsure" about the first-term senator from Illinois, and their doubts start with a single word: experience.
During the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton convinced 18 million voters to support her because she was "ready on day one" to become president. It wasn't enough, because, in many states, his "change" message trumped her "ready" mantra. But those were Democratic primary voters.
When the ABC/Washington Post survey asked a national sample to choose between "strength and experience" or "new direction and new ideas," respondents split right down the middle.
The latest Wall Street Journal poll sends even stronger warning signals to the Obama camp. As commander in chief, voters preferred McCain by 53 percent to 25 percent; and they rated Obama the "riskier choice" by 20 points. President Bush won a second term in part because he convinced enough voters, particularly mothers of small children, that in a dangerous world, he offered a more secure option than John Kerry. And that pattern is showing up again.
Democrats cannot win the White House without a strong majority among female voters, and Obama's 14-point advantage among all women (according to a recent Pew poll) resembles Bill Clinton's 16-point margin in 1996. But among married women, Obama's edge shrinks to 4 points.
Obama is a far more compelling and magnetic force than his rival. But McCain cuts a more comfortable and reassuring figure. As Peter Hart, a Democrat who conducts the Wall Street Journal poll with Republican Neil Newhouse, puts it: "Voters want to answer a simple question: Is Barack Obama safe?"
The answer to that question draws on more evidence than years served, jobs held and positions taken. Voters want to know about a candidate's character, judgment and temperament. They want to sense his scars and his seasoning. And they learn these things through narrative, the stories leaders tell about their lives and troubles.
In 1992, Clinton's handlers were appalled to discover that he was seen as a child of privilege, a graduate of Oxford and Yale. That's when they trotted out "The Boy From Hope," raised by a single mom after his father died before he was born.
Obama, the superstar Harvard law grad, is facing a similar problem, with voters thinking he's lived a "charmed existence," according to his campaign manager, David Plouffe. His answer is the same as Clinton's: campaign ads that stress his own lack of a father and his hardworking Kansas grandparents. Call it the "Back to Barry" tour, the nickname he had as a boy.
Those ads highlight the final point: To many Americans, Obama is still a stranger, an exotic and mysterious stranger with an odd name, a dark face, a weird pastor, a cheeky wife and a brief past. "This is a big leap for people," he said on "Meet the Press." "I don't look like previous commanders in chief. I've been on the national scene a relatively short time."
One measure of that leap: Pew reports that 22 percent of all voters think Obama is a Muslim or are confused about his religion; only 57 percent correctly identify him as a Christian. And among independents who don't know his true faith, only one-third support him, while half back McCain.
So, in November, will Americans decide Obama is "one of us"? We don't know yet.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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© 2007, NEA
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