Highlights from Conference Call With Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Dr. Tevi Troy

Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN):
“President Obama doesn’t have a messaging problem with the Jewish community, he has a policy problem. The reality is that he recognizes that and so you’re going to see efforts to try and shore up Jewish supporters. Dr. Troy indicated that 78% support in the last election and that’s just not going to happen in this election and it’s because of action, because of words, it’s because of policy.
“You look at the New York-9 race in which a Republican wins one of the most overwhelmingly Democrat districts in the country and clearly it was the Jewish vote there, that all the polling showed made a significant difference…
“A series of comments and pressure on Israeli settlements or talking about returning to pre-’67 borders. Putting pressure on Israel, but not coming back and putting pressure on the Palestinians and accepting the Palestinian position before the beginning of serious negotiations… 
“Clearly, this president has challenges with the Jewish community, those challenges could affect his reelection, and I think you are going to see a very concerted effort on his part now to begin outreach but the problem is it’s tough to begin outreach beginning of an election process when you have a history of statements, policies and actions. From his snubbing of the Israeli Prime Minister, to putting pressure on Israel and not requisite pressure on the Palestinians.
“I think the Jewish community in this country is clearly for those of us who care about Israel… looking up and saying we have a problem here and, as a result,…will have electoral impact, and I think he is coming up a day late and a dollar short on this effort to do outreach.”
 
Dr. Tevi Troy, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute:
“I guess he is trying to shore up his support in the Jewish community…he really needs to do so because he is having some problems in that community and is likely to have more as we approach the 2012 election.
“Back in 2008, I would speak in favor of Senator McCain, and I would argue that he had a three decade long Israel record and President Obama was unknown. Well, the Jewish community seemed to be comfortable with unknown. Not knowing where President Obama was or at the time Senator Obama was. They said, ‘we’ll we figured he’ll be okay.’ And, they got 78% of Jewish supporters…
“Once you are actually in office and have a record it’s hard to fool everybody. The Obama record on Israel has not been good, and it has been something that many in the Jewish community are uncomfortable with.
“He’s been cold and has snubbed Prime Minister Netanyahu. He and Prime Minister Sarkozy said less than pleasant things about Prime Minister Netanyahu. 
“Joe Biden had his famous trip to Jerusalem where he made a pretty public statement criticizing Israeli actions. 
“And then there was the ’67 border speech where they kind of seemed to change policy overnight in advance of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington…
“More recently, we saw the remarks by the US ambassador to Belgium…where he suggested that it was Israel’s fault for…anti-Semitism out there. So all of these are indicative of a certain coldness that Obama seems to have towards Israel and his administration has towards Israel.
“I think for those reasons…we really need a corrective in American policy towards the region. We are getting a sense that many in the American Jewish community seem to agree with that. I said earlier that 78% of Jews supported Obama in 2008, but there are some recent polls. One by Gallup that showed 54% approval for Obama among Jews and another by the AJC that showed about 45%, so there’s a significant drop off.
“As we all know that the Jewish community…tends to vote majority Democratic in presidential elections. But the margin by which they do so is important and we’re seeing indications by that margin could erode significantly from the 78% Obama got in 2008. And in case some people think that the Jewish vote is not that important to just give a couple of quick numbers. Based on exit polling and other samplings there are indications that there are about 450,000 Jewish voters in Florida about 250,000 Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, about 100,000 in Michigan and Ohio and approximately 50,000 in Nevada, Virginia and North Carolina. All of these are very important states. Will make a difference in 2012 and if President Obama’s margins erode that could really make a difference for the Republican candidate whoever he or she may be in 2012.”
Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/12.16.2011_Jewish_support_cc.mp3
 
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