We’ve been down this road before.
I first heard this during the Carter Administration. I first heard it seriously during the Clinton years. Jews, tired of the Democratic party’s one-sided approach to Israel, will eventually bolt from the Tics. Someday. Maybe. Honest.
I’m starting to think American Jews are to Israel the way American Catholics are to pro-life politics; the theoretical tie frays when you get down to specifics; “progressive” politics beats out the purported big issue.
But Roger L. Simon thinks things may be, honestly, seriously, maybe changing, probably:
But I suspect something is brewing. [The Tics'] kind of excessive and weirdly paternalistic attitude to the state of Israel, directed so clearly from the top, seems to come out of a kind of unexamined personal animus. The long record that Obama has of friendship with virulent enemies of Israel has not gone unnoticed.
Whatever the etiology, group love affairs with political parties cannot help but be self-destructive. They may begin in a burst of mutual admiration but they will almost always devolve into a self-desturctive “taking for granted” that could only work to the benefit of one party (if that). The love affair between African-Americans and the Democratic Party has been similarly useless for blacks. In the forty years I have lived in Los Angeles, I haven’t noticed life getting significantly better in South Central, a region of the city in which Republicans are about as scarce as killer whales.
Right. See also Detroit, DC, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.
This doesn’t mean I think Jews or blacks or anybody else should become Republicans. They should think for themselves and even change sides when it’s advantageous. For Jews, Obama’s behavior is indeed a “teaching moment.” The bizarre over-reaction to a minor incident in Israel should serve as a wake up call.
I say the odds are it’s all wishful thinking. But who knows?
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Shot In The Dark.
