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Sep
21
I first wrote about this topic on September 6, and then yesterday I wrote a bit more about my experience at the Obama campaign office.
In the meantime, Jeff Hess of Have Coffee Will Write has been posting a blog entry everyday since September 6 called, “Why Vote For Your Candidate…” and at least a few people have taken the time to answer the question.
Now, I’d like to add a few more voices I’ve listened to and debated with.
Late last week, I met, for the first time, two Jews from NE Ohio who not only think that Barack Obama is a Muslim, but they think he wants to or will be happy to let Israel be destroyed. One of these two individuals is a Holocaust survivor who survived being buried alive with others who had been shot dead and, as I listened to this individual express distaste for Obama and admiration of Sarah Palin, I decided that to discuss my impressions of those two candidates would involve more intervention than I could muster and probably wasn’t going to be a productive thing, so I cut my losses and focused on other discussion. This voter had voted for Hillary Clinton in the Ohio primary.
The other individual is a Democrat who is Jewish and also believes that Obama is a Muslim and cares nothing for Israel. This person had voted for Hillary and expressed great disgust when I mentioned that I’d been making calls for Obama. This person told me that it was unimaginable that any Jew could support Obama – and claimed to not know any Jews who supported Obama.
I went silent for a minute.
Then, I said, well – you know – I didn’t know any Jews who didn’t support Obama until that moment. And I went through my list of local prominent Jews who support Obama – at least a few of which I believed this person would know. After I did my good listening thing, I moved off the topic to the reality that what we were really doing was lamenting that if we’re not happy with the candidate selection we end up with, we need to work more to improve the pipeline of the candidates from whom we get to select.
The one thing that didn’t come up during the time when I met these two individuals and discussed politics with a few others was McCain. Not one adult at this event supported McCain. It was all about having wanted Hillary, now not being comfortable with Obama and praying that Sarah Palin is at least smart enough to learn what’s being crammed into her brain. And even then, the concern that she has no depth or capacity to apply what she’s learned was a concern.
Two other individuals I spoke with at this same occasion were Clinton supporters. One was trying to be open-minded but for now is undecided – an extremely bright person who also feels that Palin could get up to speed and just isn’t comfortable with Obama, though is still undecided. The prime issue for this person is energy.
The other person is not an American voter and is now an Israeli citizen. This person feels that Tzipi Livni, Benyamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama together could make a two-state solution happen – even though this person is not a strong supporter or believer in Livni or Obama and has concerns that Livni will not be able to form a coalition government.
My conclusion: the extent to which people are willing to ignore Palin’s deficiencies because they cannot accept Obama is flabbergasting. Though this idea that Palin will be okay and that Jews can’t possibly vote for Obama – that’s new to me – meeting it, hearing it, face to face. I’m not a campaign strategist, but it would make a good exam question.
Oh – and one other thing: we all agreed that no matter our problems with a two-party system, none of us wanted to live under a coalition government.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:14 am September 21st, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Israel, Joe Biden, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin, Voting, WH2008
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2 Responses to “How people I meet are voting, 9/21/08 edition”
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Do you think race has something to do with all these Democrats being “uncomfortable” with Obama?
That is very hard to say – it certainly is possible, but here, as with Republicans who say they wouldn’t vote for Obama simply because of his Democratic values or policies, it’s also easy to believe and frankly to accept, particularly from a Holocaust survivor, their fear – as irrational as we might believe it to be – that he is a Muslim and wants Israel destroyed. I don’t know – maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t feel it’s right for me to argue with someone who has survived clawing her way out of a pit full of dead people shot by Nazis and surviving day after day running from one farm to the next, living in the Warsaw ghetto and being favored by German soldiers because of her beauty.
You know what I mean? I’m not saying I’m okay for not arguing with her – but then again, you know – if she is fearful, it’s really hard for me to imagine that I can convince her not to be – even 60+ years later.
As the poll that was released yesterday indicates, there are a significant proportion of Dems. who appear to be unable to or unwilling to vote for Obama because he is black – whether those folks are Jewish, I don’t know – but Jews are only 1.5-3% of all Americans so…I think it’s safe to say race is making a difference all the way around.