Obama Will Receive Strong Jewish Support in 2012

Originally Published in Politico’s Arena

By David A. Harris, President and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council

President Obama will receive strong and deep support from American Jews, just like he did in 2008, for the right reason: he’s on the right side of the issues that the vast majority of American Jews care deeply about - protecting our environment, ensuring reproductive rights, preserving Medicare, respecting and acting upon a belief in real science, and - yes - demonstrating unprecedented support for Israel.

Every two and four years since at least 1970, we’ve documented the same hand-wringing in the media over the direction of the Jewish vote. Always the obsession is the same; “Will this be the year the Jewish vote moves Republican? Will this be the year?” Yet aside from an anomaly in 1980, when American Jews responded to a Democratic President based on some well-founded fears (fears that have proven to have greater and greater foundation with each passing year), the much-talked-about realignment has never, ever happened. Not since the New Deal. Not ever.

The Jewish people are, as much as any other, a people of facts. And the objective facts - as spelled out by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Ambassador Michael Oren and others - speak for themselves; this administration has proven unprecedentedly pro-Israel. From defending Israel 100 percent at the tilted United Nations (unlike other administrations) to gathering a global coalition against Iran to taking the initiative to protect Israelis from missiles through supporting Iron Dome to tremendous leaps forward in high-level security cooperation, this White House has done it all.

GOP presidential candidates and those trying to make Israel into a partisan wedge issue can invoke all the baseless invective they like (e.g., “throwing Israel under a bus”) as the President suggests the same negotiating context as George W. Bush and other presidents. But over time, it just won’t fly with American Jews.

American Jewish voters need to reach a comfort level regarding Israel with candidates, then they pivot to the myriad others issues they care about - the issues that so many other Americans care about. On Israel, when they see the objective facts, American Jews will again dramatically reach that comfort level with President Obama. And when they look to every other issue under the sun, once they take a look at the current GOP presidential field, it’s no contest.