Time tempers Jews' euphoria over Lieberman
URL:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&ncid=703...
Jill Lawrence USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- Rabbi David Saperstein remembers the heady day when Joe Lieberman (news - web sites), an Orthodox Jew, became the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in 2000. His 10-year-old son turned to him and said, ''Dad, it's just like Jackie Robinson.''
This year, the Connecticut senator is the first serious Jewish candidate for a major-party presidential nomination. He is arguably even more like the pioneering black baseball player, although his breakthrough on the national ticket didn't spark the resistance and invective that Robinson faced.
But now some Jewish Democrats are ambivalent about a man who is more religious and more conservative than most of them. As proud as most Jews are of Lieberman, he's no longer a novelty and he's not bursting onto the scene on a national ticket. He's scrapping with eight other Democrats, some of whom have more appeal to Jewish liberals than the hawkish, values-oriented Lieberman does.
And he's running in a world beset by terrorism, Middle East violence, anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process sits at a delicate early stage. All that leads some Jews to wonder if it's the right time for a Jewish president.
''Things have gotten a lot more fraught than they were three years ago,'' says Alan Mittleman, a religion professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and head of a three-year study of Jews in American public life. ''Then, you could have said Lieberman was the de facto leader of the American Jewish community. I'm not sure anymore.''
Jews are only about 4% of the U.S. electorate, but they have clout beyond their numbers. They are active fundraisers and contributors. In competitive states such as New Jersey, where they make up 12% of the electorate, they can be a pivotal voting bloc. Jews voted 4-to-1 for Democrats in the last three presidential elections, a ratio Republicans want to narrow in 2004.
Lieberman's pollster, Mark Penn, says Lieberman has a 93% approval rating among Jews. But only about half that percentage pick him when asked whom they'd vote for in a Democratic primary.
Lieberman, who leads the Democratic field in national polls, calls his support among Jews ''wonderful.'' He says he understands some of the concerns about his candidacy because ''they come from Jewish history. But I deeply believe that they do not relate to the America of 2003 and 2004.'' In a phone interview Monday, he urged Jewish voters to ''put their fears aside'' as they evaluate him. ''This is a fair country,'' he said.
Though he talked extensively about religion and morality on the campaign trail in 2000, Lieberman is focusing now on homeland security, terrorism, the Iraq (news - web sites) war, energy, education and the economy. The most visible sign of his religion is his steadfast refusal to travel or campaign on the Jewish Sabbath. From sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, all events are off-limits, although he makes exceptions for important Senate business and says he'd do the same as president.
The first Democratic candidate debate, on May 3 in Columbia, S.C., was moved from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. so he could participate. Last month, several forums featured him on videotape and other candidates in person. When Latino officials gather June 27-28 in Phoenix, he'll speak on Friday -- a day otherwise reserved for Republicans.
The limitations could handicap Lieberman politically. Although he made it to the debate, for instance, he was unable to attend a fish fry and other informal party activities earlier. Videotaped appearances also cut down on chances to lobby for support. On the other hand, Lieberman wins respect from voters for following his faith even when it is inconvenient to do so.
As Lieberman prepared for his presidential bid late last year, 95% of 1,008 Jews in an American Jewish Committee poll said anti-Semitism was a serious problem or somewhat of a problem in America. Polls of the general public suggest a much lower level of perceived anti-Semitism.
Jewish leaders and academics say the Jewish assessment is too negative and perhaps influenced by anti-Semitic incidents abroad, but others point to evidence at home. Some barriers against Jews in the USA, such as job discrimination at large corporations and law firms, didn't fall until the 1960s and early 1970s, says Ira Forman, director of the National Jewish Democratic Council: ''There is that collective memory, and Jews are anxious.''
Toni Goodale, a Democratic Party fundraiser in New York who is Jewish, says anti-Semitism is more than a memory. ''I know it's out there because nobody thinks I'm Jewish,'' says Goodale, who is married to an Episcopalian. ''I hear the disparaging remarks that are made.'' She says people talk about ''what's going on in the world'' and suggest that '' 'maybe all this wouldn't be happening if we didn't have to worry about Jews.' ''
Her comments mirror doubts and worries that Jewish leaders and academics say they hear around the country: Is Lieberman too Jewish for non-Jews? Are there people who would never vote for a Jew? Would a President Lieberman have to be tougher on Israel to prove he's objective? Would having a Jewish president escalate terrorism against America? Could that lead to abandonment of Israel? Would a Lieberman presidency unleash latent anti-Semitism at home?
Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, concedes ''there is an anxiety in some segments of the Jewish community -- do we need this, will it embarrass us, will it put him and us possibly in some uncomfortable positions?'' But he and others say Americans don't see Lieberman's religion as significant, and Jews shouldn't either. Their view is affirmed by a USA TODAY Poll this month in which nine out of 10 people said they would vote for a well-qualified presidential candidate who happened to be Jewish.
Religion, some political analysts say, is the least of Lieberman's problems with fellow Jews. His conservatism and a slow-starting campaign could be bigger obstacles. Other Democrats have been more aggressive in lining up fundraisers such as Goodale, who is working for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news, bio, voting record).
Jews and non-Jews say Lieberman ultimately will rise or fall on his merits as a politician and, either way, will blaze a trail to the White House for ethnic and religious minorities. ''It's wide open now. That's to me the real meaning of this,'' says David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. ''It's important for Jews, obviously. But it says a lot more about America than it does about Jews.'' |
