Soccer Dad

The numbers drop - among jews too

Not only is President Obama's popularity dropping with unprecedented speed, but one group that was most loyal to him, Jews, have been starting to show their disappointment too.

Nevertheless, Jews are much less enthusiastic than a year ago, when 78 percent of them gave Obama their vote. They are perhaps not entirely impervious to experience. Obama's presidency has given them, and all Americans, little to cheer about. Their support may continue to wane unless Obama shows he can achieve something more than an election victory.

There's no indication if the President's foreign policy is playing a role in this disillusionment. But given America's pro-Israel orientation it likely does. That makes a recent observation by the editors of the New York Times ironic.

Peacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move down the board. The president went public with his demand for a full freeze on settlements before securing Israel's commitment. And he and his aides apparently had no plan for what they would do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no.

Most important, they allowed the controversy to obscure the real goal: nudging Israel and the Palestinians into peace talks. (We don't know exactly what happened but we are told that Mr. Obama relied more on the judgment of his political advisers -- specifically his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel -- than of his Mideast specialists.)

President Obama's supporters would point to Mr. Emanuel as an indicator of the President's pro-Israel feelings. Yet it seems, according the Times's sources that Emanuel advised the President to be more confrontational towards Israel. Did the President's shield become his vulnerability?