Soccer Dad

Jta shows its colors

One of the most shameful aspects of last year's election campaign was the imputation that Jews would not for Barack Obama because he was black or because they were more susceptible to false rumors. As I blogged at the time, this insulting and condescending attitude was captured by a New York Times article, As Obama Heads to Florida, Many of Its Jews Have Doubts, which portrayed Jews as uniquely small minded and prejudiced. The idea that Jews might have doubts about a man who sat in a church and heard antisemitic sermons for two decades or who was friendly with Rashid Khalidi. This attitude seemed premised on a belief that Jews were inordinately concerned with Israel and more susceptible to false rumors than the general population.
Another expression of this offensive attitude was the "Big Schlep." This was an effort by young pro-Obama activists to encourage their grandparents to vote for Obama. The effort was conceived by one Ari Wallach, who still seems quite the activist.
In the end the Schleppers and their allies needn't have worried, Jewish voters proved to be overwhelmingly progressive (or, from my point of view, naive and unconcerned about Israel), supporting President Obama in record numbers. Still the contempt and condescension implicit in the campaign was extremely offensive.
Wallach has now joined by the board of the JTA. If I thought that the JTA was too partisan before on account of Ron Kampeas (its other Washington reporter, Eric Fingerhut, is neutral), I have no doubts now.