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Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
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
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
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
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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
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
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
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Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
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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
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
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
Oct. 27, 2008
/28 Tishrei 5769
The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote
By Jonathan Mark
Obama has chosen to publicly align with the friends of Israel, but the question is why Arab-Americans know so much more about what candidates are saying to us than we know about what the candidates are saying to them?
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Every big-city Jewish and mainstream newspaper has steadily charted the Jewish vote in this presidential election, wondering at every step along the way if any Jew not voting for Sen. Barack Obama might secretly be motivated by his inner racist or Zionist doubt. Democratic supporters and Jewish leaders have reassured Jews, as best they could, that they know Obama, and he's really a "great friend of Israel."
Current polling suggests that most Jews are convinced, with almost 60 percent supporting Obama.
But how are Arab-Americans dealing with all that's known about Obama? Few major newspapers, Jewish or otherwise, have looked into that. According to a headline in The Detroit Free Press (Oct. 10), "Arab Americans Favor Obama By Wide Margin," with Arab-American Muslims supporting
Obama over McCain 84-4 percent. But when Arab-American Christians are included, Obama's support drops to 54-33, even worse than Obama is doing among Jews. Obama is seriously "underperforming" among Arab-American Christians, says Zogby International, the pollsters. And when third-party candidates are added to the option, Obama's support among Arab-Americans drops to 46 percent, a full 14 points worse than he's doing among Jews. And yet, there are no articles that we've seen questioning whether Arab-Americans are racist, or that they are asking for promises and reassurance all their own.
According to the Arab-American Institute, sponsors of the poll, Arab-Americans make up 5 percent of the Michigan vote, and 2 percent of both the Ohio and Pennsylvania vote. There are 255,000 Arab-Americans in Florida, more than enough there, as in Ohio, to have made the difference in recent elections.
It's widely known that Sen. Joe Lieberman is campaigning for McCain in Florida, and Ed Koch is campaigning there for Obama, but who's campaigning for the Arab-American vote and what are they telling Arab-Americans?
According to the Palestine News Network (Oct. 10), at an AAI event in Arlington, Va., Republican Mark Ellmore (challenging Democratic Rep. Jim Moran's seat in Virginia's 8th Congressional District) told the crowd — in Arabic — that his wife is Palestinian and "my son is an Arab-American, [a] Palestinian-American serving in the United States Air Force."
Ellmore added, to applause and cheers, "We need to get back to the pre-'67 borders for the Palestinian people ... Arabs don't hate Jews, they hate Zionism."
Despite all the reports of Jewish racism in this campaign, there have been no reports of any Jewish campaigner, from either party, similarly using the word "hate" to so matter-of-factly refer to anyone.
Nevertheless, Ellmore says, "I stand with John McCain lockstep when it comes to American security," reported the Washington Post earlier in the campaign, while not reporting this Republican candidate's anti-Zionist attitude.
Meanwhile, Moran, the Democrat, said at the same AAI event, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is at the heart of how so many people think of America, [it] defines America's values." The answer, said Moran, is divide Jerusalem and let "the Golan Heights be controlled by Syria. We can resolve this crisis, we can do that, [with] a president [Obama] that's determined to do that."
Back in 2006, the last time Moran ran, a blogger covering that race, reported, "Moran, depending on his audience, is sometimes pro-Israel."
Well, now, which is it?
That Virginia district is surely not the only district in which this is going on, but even the best-informed Jews wouldn't know it by reading the papers. The Alexandria Times profiled Ellmore and didn't say a word about his belief that Syria should get the Golan. The political tide within the Arab-American community is rarely reported, outside blogs, occasional polls and the Arab media. Politicians can freely say one thing to Arab-Americans and simply cross the street to suddenly morph into a "great friend of Israel." You'd never know, would you?
During the primaries, The Los Angeles Times (April 10) headlined a lengthy article, "Allies Of Palestinians See A Friend In Barack Obama." Unlike most Jews, who couldn't tell you one sentence about what candidates are saying to Arab-American audiences, the L.A. Times reported that Arab-Americans knew full well the support for Israel that Obama has promised AIPAC, for example, but their personal experiences with Obama "have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say. Their belief is not drawn from Obama's speeches or campaign literature, but from comments that some say Obama made in private and from his association with the Palestinian American community in his hometown of Chicago...."
Israel and Palestine are not Finland and Denmark; there are limits to how receptive one can simultaneously be. Obama has chosen to publicly align with the Zionists, but the question is why Arab-Americans know so much more about what candidates are saying to us than we know about what the candidates are saying to them?
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Jonathan Mark is Associate Editor of the New York Jewish Week. To comment, please click here.
© 2008, NY Jewish Week
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