She's 105, a lifelong Democrat, voting McCain, and she's not alone.
By KORY BARDASH, ABRAHAM KATSMANMiriam Pollack and Kory Bardash 224(photo credit: Courtesy)A JPost.com exclusive blog
If you want a sense of how elderly Jewish Americans are likely to vote this November, speak to the residents of Jerusalem's Ramat Tamir retirement community. Nestled in the city's northern hills is a collection of Jewish seniors in neat, well-maintained apartments, where most of the ambient conversational buzz is in English and American-accented Hebrew. Its American residents are people who seemingly could just as easily have retired to Florida.
One of the residents, 105-year-old Miriam Pollak, is believed to be the oldest American voter living abroad. With five generations of descendants, she "stopped counting" how many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren she has. She is surprisingly engaged and aware, and even tech-savvy: She spends significant time on-line reading political news from America; she even "Skypes" her children and grandchildren in America daily.
She is a lifelong Democrat and votes in Del Ray Beach, Florida - and she is voting for John McCain. Barack Obama, she and her family say, is just "too much of a risk."
She is hardly alone. We visited the complex earlier this week to help with (non-partisan) absentee-ballot applications. Speaking with residents and staff, we were stunned by the dearth of support expressed by this overwhelmingly Democratic constituency for the Democratic nominee. The vast majority of this population is supporting Republican John McCain. One resident, who "votes for the man, not the party" noted that the election is a frequent topic of conversation with her peers, and she can't think of a single one voting for Obama.
Another resident, Ben Genauer - 95, with more than 100 great-grandchildren - is planning on voting for McCain, noting that he can't recall ever having previously supported a Republican presidential candidate. Genauer, for decades a pillar of Seattle's Jewish community, was personally friendly with former Democratic senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, who serves as the yardstick by which Genauer measures the candidates.
Jackson, a scrupulously honest champion of human rights, was largely responsible for standing up to the Soviet Union and freeing tens of thousands of Soviet Jews and other dissidents, and arguably was the staunchest defender of Israel in Senate history. Regarding which candidate is "best for Israel," Genauer's position boils down, in essence, to: I knew Scoop Jackson. Scoop Jackson was a friend of mine. You, Sen. Obama, are no Scoop Jackson.
Meaningful? Obviously, this is all anecdotal. But the Americans here are representative of American voters overall who view the candidates' stances on issues relating to America-Israel relations, Israeli security and understanding the precariousness of Israel's existence as among the most important criteria in deciding how to vote. These residents are Americans who have closely followed - and lived - the Jewish history of the past century. Their souls are bound together with the fate of Israel, having been witness to (and now participants in) its entire tumultuous history, from the Holocaust through Israel's miraculous birth through the perennial parade of wars and existential threats. Proudly American, having lived their adult lives in the US, they now choose to fulfill personal dreams of living in a modern Jewish state in their ancient Jewish homeland - dreams nearly unimaginable when they were younger.
These voters are - or, at least, were - Democrats. They came of political age around the time of the New Deal and World War II, when the Democrats were perceived as the party more protective of immigrant Jews and more internationalist in foreign policy, especially in terms of confronting Hitler and defeating the anti-Semitic, totalitarian Nazis. Popular Jewish wisdom at the time was that one should sooner vote for a socialist than a Republican.
But times - and parties - change. Ultimately, it was the Republicans who finished the fight against the anti-Semitic, totalitarian Soviets. And, now, again, it is primarily Republicans leading the fight against anti-Semitic, totalitarian radical Islamic fascists.
While these voters remained loyal Democrats through the elections of FDR, JFK and LBJ, a palpable leftward shift was taking place within the party, as demonstrated by the nomination of George McGovern. And Jimmy Carter. And John Kerry. And now, Barack Obama. Scoop Jackson would be hopelessly out of place among the dominant wing of today's Democratic Party - a party from which even Sen. Joe Lieberman has been exiled.
Unlike Obama, Jackson was a believer in American exceptionalism, strong national defense and powerfully confronting - not appeasing - America's and Israel's common enemies. He understood that the United Nations was not a friend to Israel or the US and did not believe in outsourcing American military and foreign policies to UN diplomats.
Yet, ahead of his time, he understood that international terrorism, even when targeting Israel only, was a new form of warfare ultimately aimed at undermining all liberal democracies, and needed to be confronted through American-led multilateralism. He was a lawand-order liberal on domestic issues, but no Leftist; he was at once an outspoken voice for civil rights and a leading opponent of forced busing.
By contrast, according to the non-partisan National Journal, Barack Obama has the Senate's single-most left-wing voting record. (Close behind, his running-mate, Joe Biden, comes in third. Lieberman? A respectable 44th.) And could we even imagine Jackson associating with Obama's radical circle, including Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and "God damn America!" pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright?
In fact, among Democrats in Israel, Obama has not been so popular. In the Democratic primary for Americans outside the US, Obama received twice as many votes as Hillary Clinton overall; but in Israel, he was soundly defeated by Clinton. (The only other country in which Obama lost was the Philippines, another country racked by Islamic terror; Mrs. Pollak's Filipina helper confirmed that among her friends and family, Obama has little support.) Clinton was perceived by many here as being less naïve and more knowledgeable than Obama.
The Ramat Tamir seniors are vibrant, engaged and informed, many devouring the daily newspaper and reading news on-line. They also have literally thousands of descendants, and entire communities of friends and peers voting in America. They are largely Scoop Jackson Democrats, and they are breaking sharply for McCain. If our visit gave any indication of what's to come, Sen. Obama may be in for a rude Election Day surprise from Jewish Democrats.
Kory Bardash is the co-chairman of Republicans Abroad Israel; Abraham Katsman is counsel to RAI
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