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Sarah Silverman, You Don't Get Jewish Voters

Bubbie is uneasy over Obama's stance on Israel

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Oct 8, 2008 2:26 PM CDT

(Newser) – Sarah Silverman may be urging young Jews to persuade their bubbies in Florida to vote for Barack Obama, but older Jews are right to be uneasy with the Democrat, writes Anat Hakim in the Los Angeles Times. Much of Obama’s history has Jews feeling that “something is just not right” with him, and worrying “that Obama will, to put it charitably, not serve Israel well.”

Jews aren’t a big voting bloc, and most of them are solid Democrats. But they vote in high numbers, and are concentrated in swing states, so a little switching could make the difference. When Jews had the “feeling in their kishkes that something was just not right” about Jimmy Carter, they jumped ship. The same could happen to Obama.

[Images (3)]

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Sarah Silverman is seen on stage at the "Idol Gives Back" fundraising special of "American Idol" in Los Angeles on Sunday April 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

A voter casts his ballot at a polling station in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim outside Jerusalem, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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A candidate's stance on Israel represents for many Jews the way he views the world. Will he stand up for minority interests? Will he stand up for moral truths as opposed to moral relativism? - Anat Hakim

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Sarah Silverman, You Don't Get Jewish Voters