The Palin Factor

In a mostly uninsightful article on why Jews vote liberal, Norman Podhoretz writes:
Mr. McCain's long history of sympathy with Israel should have given him a distinct advantage over Mr. Obama, whose own history consisted of associating with outright enemies of the Jewish state like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the historian Rashid Khalidi.

Nevertheless, Mr. Obama beat Mr. McCain among Jewish voters by a staggering 57 points. Except for African Americans, who gave him 95% of their vote, Mr. Obama did far better with Jews than with any other ethnic or religious group. Thus the Jewish vote for him was 25 points higher than the 53% he scored with the electorate as a whole; 35 points higher than the 43% he scored with whites; 11 points higher than the 67% he scored with Hispanics; 33 points higher than the 45% he scored with Protestants; and 24 points higher than the 54% he scored with Catholics.

Podhoretz misses a major part of the story. Jews did not vote againt McCain; they voted against Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin, no matter her position on Israel, is anathema to most Jews because of her anti-intellectualism and crass populism. She is a philo-Semitic Cossack, and even her philo-Semitism is based on a Christian theological view no Semite shares. Most North American Jews (lobbyists aside) don't want their politicians to "love Israel." They want their politicians to respect Israel's right to exist and help it achieve a lasting peace. They also want their politicians to be worldly, urbane, well-read and well-spoken. Palin (and Bush) were none of these things. Ergo, few Jewish votes.

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