Posted on 05/20/2010 7:18:17 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
My friends Laura and Pam are both Jewish women who voted for Obama. Aside from this, they are as different as day and night.
High school buddies, Laura and I grew up in the same type of cookie-cutter house. Our first-generation Russian parents both worshiped the American ground they walked on.
Laura still lives in the New York 'burbs with her accountant husband, having raised two great kids. Her social obligations are limited to donating to her synagogue and, of course, the requisite Democratic vote. Her kids are working hard to achieve the American Dream.
Now, Pam is a different story entirely.
A Berkeley colleague, Pam was raised a Red Diaper Baby in Chicago. Her parents ensured that Pam and her siblings were steeped in party doctrine.
Pam's doctors were black and her preschool multiracial. Her parents rejected their Jewish religion, preferring to take the kids to socialist meetings rather than shul.
When Pam came to Berkeley for grad school, she fit right in. Embracing her parents' ardor for all things Left, Pam participated in various radical groups.
Pam raised a son on her own, making sure to transfer her revolutionary beliefs onto him. When he wrote a high school paper lionizing the Black Panthers, Pam couldn't have been prouder.
A burning question on many people's minds is why Jews like Laura and Pam vote for the Democrats. It's especially puzzling why Jews flocked to Obama, given his ties to anti-Semites who abhor Israel.
But I think that the problem with most discussions is that the Lauras and Pams of the world are lumped together. Liberal Jews and Leftist Jews are worlds apart.
In general, liberal Jews' support of Israel is unequivocal. Leftist Jews detest Israel, blaming that country, as well as the U.S., for all of the world's evil. Listen to how Pam expressed it: "I wouldn't care if Israel disappeared off the face of the map."
Laura wants a kinder, gentler America. Pam would love nothing better than capitalism slashed and burned.
Laura voted for Obama because she denied his radical ties. Pam chose Obama because of his radical ties.
Obama has been dubbed by the Huffington Post as "The First Jewish President." This isn't just because so many Jews voted for him; Jews tend to vote for any Democrat.
The term is bandied around because so many Jews surround Obama, such as Axelrod, Emanuel, Ron Bloom, Cass Sunstein, and, most recently, Elena Kagan. While it's true that Obama appears to have numerous Jewish lieutenants, these comrades resemble Pam, not Laura.
My concern about Obama's "Jewishness" being exploited is that this presidency has "disaster" written all over it. It's already a fiasco, with record debt, renewed terrorism, and the Feds swallowing up our health care.
If the media touts this as a "Jewish presidency," who will ultimately be blamed for the mess we're in? And this potential resentment would emanate from both liberals and conservatives.
I think this point needs to be clear: It's the Leftist Jews, a minority among Jews, who are enamored with Marxism. Rather than see the nightmare created by statism, these aging Peter Pans won't grow up and shed their adolescent fantasies.
In fact, people like Pam revel in the prospect of bringing this country down. While liberal Jews are the sheep, it's the Leftists who are the wolves.
Their hubris and unquenchable thirst for power bears no resemblance to any garden-variety liberal I know. Certainly, the radical Jews around Obama would be an alien life form to my dear liberal dad. He loved this country and Israel with every fiber of his being.
It's no wonder that polls show Obama's support plummeting among liberal Jews. They thought they were getting a patriotic American who'd unite this country, not someone who would tear it to shreds.
Now, when I talk to Laura on the phone, she sounds shell-shocked. While she hasn't put two and two together yet (I'm working on it), she describes a spooky feeling of nameless dread.
In contrast, Pam is luxuriating in the radical transformation happening right before her eyes. She sees the dreams of her parents coming to fruition.
Pam knew exactly whom she was voting for when she pulled the lever for Obama. And it wasn't the First Jewish President, since she couldn't care less about her religion.
It was the First Marxist President.
-- A frequent AT contributor, Robin is a recovering liberal and a psychotherapist in Berkeley.
Yikes. So true.
You may as well ask why 98% of Jews stayed in Babylon when they had royal permission to go home to Israel & rebuild?
Self-destructionism?
Ping
Sell THAT in Israel if you can.
Pam, you might just get your wish. Israel first, America next. Pam and Laura may soon be sewing gold stars to their kids' clothes.
So now lets parse “liberal” vs “leftist”?
Either way, they still voted for him.
Interestingly, I see the author is already wondering if Jews will be blamed for his presidency.
Sure! Might as well start warming up the persecution card!
I don't think so. I think the author is just analyzing why so many Jews lean left.
The history going back to the 1920s is the liberals support the communists until this or that atrocity makes it absolutely impossible to defend them anymore. And even then, liberals make excuses or, as happened when the New Left rose in the 1960s from the ashes of Stalinism, support the new, improved radical marxist movement.
"No enemies on the left" is the slogan and that will never change.
They were constantly straying from the path and causing problems for themselves by adopting the idols of the neighbors, such as the Golden Calf.
The problem is that now they are continuing to do the same in a nuclear world. I get the distinct impression that too many of them are holocaust-deniers!
If you believe in the New Testament, it is rational that God had to choose one nation through whom to bring a Savior.
He then narrowed it down to one tribe, Judah.
American “Jews” are simply American leftists. The JEW part only enters into their thinking if convenient or necessary for profit. (see Woody Allen.)
American “Jews” are simply American leftists. The JEW part only enters into their thinking if convenient or necessary for profit. (see Woody Allen.)
Molotov's wife, Polonia, was Jewish and in spite of her being thrown into the Gulag and only being released after Stalin died she and most of the others died as loyal hard core Stalinists.
I don't know why so many Jews gravitate to the Left, even to the hardest and most brutal of them, but they do.
“I’ve always asked myself this — out of the so many peoples on earth, why were the Jews CHOSEN ?”
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You can’t be serious, who else would the God of the Jews choose? Would you expect the Jewish holy book to say that the Egyptians were God’s chosen people? Has any other religion unconnected with Judaism ever said that the Jews were God’s chosen?
Do you really believe that the creator of all that is, ever was or ever will be actually chose one little group over all others? I obviously don’t.
Don’t take my questions as somehow anti semitic, I just don’t believe that the creator of the universe selected one group of people as his favorites, or hers either.
Well...If they are enamored with Marxism, preach Marxism, work for a Marxist Utopia on earth...PLEASE CALL THEM WHAT THEY ARE!!!!!
They are MARXISTS!! and COMMUNISTS!!!
A few days ago Rush was going on and on about "radical leftist" Kagan. I was literally yelling at my computer! Call Kagan what she is! She is a MARXIST AND COMMUNIST!!!
Is a "duh!" necessary? ( eye roll)
For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Romans 9:6.
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