Letter to the editor:

Plenty of Jewish voters back Obama

Keith R. Brill, Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun’s Wednesday story headlined “Less a Democratic voting bloc than ever”:

A former New Yorker, I am a proud nine-year member of the Las Vegas Jewish community and an active member of Temple Beth Sholom. Trust me, there are plenty of Jewish Obama supporters in our temple and in Las Vegas. Indeed, Temple Beth Sholom is planning to have a pro-Obama speaker in the near future.

Though Sen. Joe Lieberman did stump this week at the temple, this does not mean Jewish voters are in sync with the conservative, right-leaning positions of John McCain. The Republican Party has been heavily influenced by the far right for the past eight years, and all indications are the party is still being run in the same fashion. Adding Palin to the ticket raises my concerns even more.

Obama’s strong pro-Israel stance is clear. And Biden is one of America’s smartest foreign policy experts, period. Unfortunately, many Republican Jews are spreading false rumors online about Barack Obama, using the familiar Republican tactics of fear and intimidation.

Well, this Jewish Las Vegan, in the words of Obama himself, has had “enough”! Enough of the lies and smears.

America’s standing in the world, as an economic leader and as a political leader, has been greatly diminished over the past eight years. Jewish Americans want to see America return to its former glory, and I cannot see how this can be done with McCain in power. As president, Obama will make sure that Israel remains one of our strongest allies!

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By jfnance32

Sept. 19, 2008

7:52 a.m.

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Jewish voters should have concern about Obama's natural instincts.

Obama has a natural instinct that sometimes gets him into trouble. For example, the "bitter" remark originated from Obama's natural instinct. He has for years and years drank coffee and wine with fellow liberal thinkers and I am sure that they have ingrained into his brain that philosophic view that some voters, especially non-liberal voters, are dumb and ill-informed. So he made the "bitter" remark from his sub-conscious without thinking about it. When Obama does not have a teleprompter in his face then he seems to stutter in his speech with many pauses. He is fighting his natural instinct and trying to generate a political statement instead of his natural response statement.

For years, Obama has years hanged around anti-Israel ranting haters. His spiritual mentor obviously has a low regard for the state of Israel. Also, obviously Obama has heard anti-Israel remarks often from that spiritual mentor. Obama's church has Hamas anti-Israel material in the church lobby. There is picture of Obama and his wife sitting with extreme anti-Israel Professor Said at Said's keynote speech. There is a poll that says over 70% of blacks are either anti-Semitic or somewhat anti-Semitic.

(Poll about anti-Semitic views in USA http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/2002/as...)

An example of this natural instinct is his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 2008 Policy Conference where he says, "The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper." I hope he did not mean that for how can a Palestine state be contiguous without making Israel non-contiguous. Could this be something that he has heard in his years of anti-Israel indoctrination? Did his natural instinct trigger him to make this mistake?

Another example is that he put down the Likud Party. Why would he offend potential Jewish voters in the USA by that remark? Again, I believe that is coming from his natural instinct that comes from years of hearing anti-Israel rants.

Also for survival reasons, I understand why Jewish voters need to have a leadership role in the Democratic Party. With a large portion of the black Democrats not giving full support to Israel must be troubling to Jewish voters. They need to keep the Jewish leadership in the Democratic Party strong to counteract that strong anti-Israel tendency in the Democratic Party's rank and file.

What will be Obama's natural instinct when is confronted with an Israeli request to bomb Iranian nuclear sites? Is that a risk worth taking as a Jewish voter?