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Jewish World Review June 13, 1999 / 29 Tamuz 5759
NO MATTER WHAT YOU’VE HEARD about the inevitability of George W.
Bush, the Republican presidential candidate closest to the heart of the
Jewish community is, at least for the moment, Arizona Sen. John McCain.
McCain, the self-described Reagan Republican, would run a familiar
old-fashioned campaign full of warm-fuzzies, at least where the pro-Israel
group is concerned; high on foreign policy and national defense, low on
divisive domestic affairs. George W., of course, famously lacking in
specifics, is a great unknown. The Bush campaign is one-part Clinton
revulsion; one-part demographic savvy and one part the blessings of early
money yielding momentum. The anti-abortion Republican is running ahead of Al
Gore with women! It’s a dazzling effort that, even if not ultimately
successful, may redefine the political landscape.
We’re only at the beginning of the story. The Texas governor whipped
through California before July 4 on a three-day fund-raising tour ($36
million to date). This week, I couldn’t find a single Los Angeles Jewish
Republican who would commit to being committed to Bush; but none that would
say publicly they were against him, either.
But even non-committal is good news, a show that George W has a
distinct identity from his less-than-adored father, where Jews and Israel are
concerned.
Perhaps Jewish support can wait. Karl Rove, Bush strategist, says
that Victory 2000 depends upon Catholics, Latinos and the suburban vote. The
Catholics are the most interesting part of the formulation, a bet that middle
of the road Catholics, long ignored as a special interest group, are fed up
with having the “religious terrain” of their party captured by a fringe right
wing. But this means that the “swing vote” status, once focused on Jews,
whether the Orthodox or fiscally liberatarian segments, may now be ignored.
Unless, that is, “suburban” is a euphemism for Jewish Calabasas. The Bush
2000 website has a Spanish counterpart but does not
mention Israel.
Anyway, he may get to the Jewish community other ways. On Wednesday,
Austin’s Michael Dell, of Dell Computers, signed on to chair the Bush hi-tech
advisory council. It’s hard to deny the sense of an emerging juggernaut.
It’s still a year from the convention. Anything can
happen.
“The media doesn’t like a coronation, they like competition,”
white-haired, energetic John McCain was saying hopefully. At the Beverly
Hills home of Rosalie Rubaum (active in Israel Bonds) Tuesday night, on the
first three days in L.A., interest in McCain was high. The 80 appreciative
Jewish Republicans brought together by former Pete Wilson advisor Rosalie
Zalis were probably more than twice the number dispersed among the 2500 at
the Century Plaza Bush event.
McCain can do the pro-Israel speech in his sleep. There were enough
references to Saddam Hussein and the need for a new ballistic missile system
to remind you what Reagan Republicanism meant and that he was a career
military man to boot.
Israel was mentioned so often, with all the right references to the
only democracy in the middle east, that the Q&A focused on the looming threat
of Russia and the challenge of Social Security. It was the old time
religion, amiable, sincere and well-received.
“Now some ask whether the American people care about foreign policy,”
he said. “But I care, and you care, because we know what happens to a
country when we don’t pay attention.” He took us on a tour of potential
military hot-spots around the world, criticizing what he called the Clinton
Administrations “photo opportunity” foreign policy. He sounded mournful, but
out of date, a highly literate, sophisticated survivor of another era,
reminding me of the DJs who were still playing Sinatra and Julius LaRosa
while the Beatles stormed the world.
This was an introductory meeting, so maybe it’s petty to overwork the
specifics. Still, let’s take him at his word. Why was McCain criticizing
what he called the “salami slicing” of land for peace on the very day when
newly-installed Prime Minister Ehud Barak had in his inaugural address
pledged to negotiate with Syria?
And whatever mileage can be made from criticizing Clinton’s foreign
policy, it’s nevertheless true that McCain was an advocate of ground troops
in Kosovo, a policy that surely would have led to a protracted war with
casualties. Not to mention the fact that the reason the president could not
act was because he was preoccupied with the impeachment trial.
“Thank you for giving my candidacy your consideration,” McCain said
at least twice. He meant it, too. McCain enjoys being among the
foreign-policy wonks and fiscal conservatives like those Zalis gathered
together. They need him, too, to keep their political bearings while the
world shifts.
But here’s some advice: Next time McCain returns, maybe he’ll talk
about gun control and the recent spate of violent hate crimes, the two
pressing domestic issues crying for presidential attention.
Jewish
Republicans have interests beyond foreign
06/08/99: The Meaning of Loehmann's, RIP
McCain, Jewish frontrunner?
By Marlene Adler Marks
Despite Bush’s meeting with
Hollywood types at the home of producer Terry Semel and the Century Plaza
dinner guest-hosted by Jerry Weintraub, even the Bush team back in Austin was
unsure what progress had been made with the likes of Sherry Lansing or among
the pro-Israel crowd.
Yet it won’t be enough. Among the Beverly Hills crowd there was
little or no interest in his key campaign issue, finance reform, dismissed by
one guest as “unrealistic.” And after he left several guests said it would
take a major stumble from George W. go give McCain a chance. McCain’s breezy
manner, filled with self-deprecating humor, suggests that beyond Beverly
Hills he suspects that not many are listening.
JWR contributor Marlene Adler Marks is a columnist and author of "A Woman's Voice: Reflections on Love, Death, Faith, Food & Family Life ". Send your comments to her by clicking here.
