It is well known why Jewish Americans take a close look at the presidential candidates before casting their vote. They want to see how the candidates stand on Israel and their support for Israel.
UPDATED: with some changes/clarifications as they were innocent mistakes based on comments. j in "jewish" shoud be uppercase. :)
I was expressly talking about Swing Jewish vote in Florida and else where.
When John McCain chose a foreign policy neophyte Sarah Palin as his running mate, he probably thought that Jewish American vote is already in his pocket. He thought that voters in Florida and across elsewhere would take a look at him and his credentials and vote for him.
Jewish Americans need to think again very carefully about John McCain's foreign policy here. As a result of his foreign policy, Iran is much much stronger than it is in 2001. He single handedly forced Israel to negotiate with Syria to prevent any influence of Iran. Syria is already garnering support across the world. President Al-Bashar has traveled to Europe and Asia in the past year or so to court support for his country.
It is much clearer that it is going to be much worse if John McCain is chosen as president with his aggressive Russian policies. Iran is courting anti air craft missiles from Russia against any bombing from Israel. Iraq, now a major Shiite country will only enhance the security concerns of Israel. Without any peace in Iraq in near future, the conflict could raise its ugly head again and this time it may spill into Israel(Jordan not withstanding).
Jewish Americans understand what is needed at this point in white house is some cool headed thinking and intelligent minds to sort out these complex problems. Not trigger happy presidents and non-blinking vice presidents.
To evidence what a neophyte or dangerous neo-con teachings imparted to her by Bush's Advisors, the only bite many people got out of the Sarah Palin's mouth is that we can't second guess Israel.
What if Israel is wrong some times? Are they not human? You can't blindly decide what Israel does is always right. They always look for American point of view. So do you rubber stamp everything Israel says? What kind of thinking is this?
This article clearly enunciates the Israel's public opinion on Sarah Palin selection.
Asked during the interview if she had the ability and the experience to serve as president of the United States, she replied without hesitation, without reservation, without contemplation - and without knowing, on a profound level, what that would, in fact, entail. "I'm ready."
Here is the answer that is truly frightening. It lets us know that the nation may be in danger of electing another leader bearing the most profound of George Bush's shortcomings: blindness to one's own shortcomings.
Hubris has been the downfall of George Bush. If indeed this intervention will enable lasting peace in middle east through some unforeseen means cannot be envisioned for another two decades. In the near term, it has caused nothing but chaos and brought forth an incredible amount of violence and hatred. Not to mention , that caused an incredible amount of drain on U.S treasury. The economy stands on a precipice and it has ripple effects all over the world. Just look to the reaction of Russian markets.
If economy fails, it will set the world automatically back by 20 years to USSR era (by the best situation). It will look like as if bin Laden has achieved his goal of destroying the economy of America and he will probably have a last laugh.
Last, but not the least is the age and medical condition(dangerous skin cancer) of John McCain. There is a huge risk in assuming that he will lead healthy life for another 4 or 8 years(Excuse me:Cindy).
What about other pressures of the presidency and its grueling schedule? He is already taking his weekends off during his campaign.
Will Jewish voters think Palin can handle these issues on her own? I am not confident that they are that stupid.
As they say
"A known devil is much better than unknown Angel".
Some body in Jewish community may have already thought about this. Compared to McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden looks strong pair.
That's the last word.