...For many American Jews, a candidate's record on traditionally liberal social and economic issues carries more weight than slight nuances in their positions on Israel, says Ira Forman, executive director of the nonprofit NJDC and coeditor of the book 'Jews in American Politics.'
Obama has played as much to those mainstays of Jewish-American politics as he has to the issue of Israel's security, using speeches before Jewish audiences to talk about the civil rights struggle, global warming, and the genocide in Darfur. His early opposition to the Iraq war has also reverberated with Jewish Americans, who, according to Gallup polls, are more likely to view the war as a mistake than are Americans of any other faith....
The media have tended to focus almost exclusively on fine--and probably largely meaningless--variations in pandering comments on Israel. At last someone recognizes that most American Jews care about, and vote on, a larger variety of issues, both domestic and international. Note especially the poll results on Jewish American views of the Iraq War.
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