AIPAC Attack, Get Back

The Hill, today on President Obama's AIPAC conference speech:

When President Obama takes the stage on Sunday morning before the American Israel Public Affairs Conference, it could represent a pivotal moment for Obama to keep Jewish voters in his corner.

Republicans have sought to peel off the Jewish vote from Obama, as his tenuous relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will address AIPAC Monday after a one-on-one meeting with Obama, has led to accusations that he isn't supportive of Israel.

“The feeling is that there’s just no empathy there,” said Dov Zakheim, a former undersecretary of Defense under President Reagan and advisor to President George W. Bush.  “And he hasn’t done anything to really change that."

Another one-time supporter of Obama agrees: "I have been completely disappointed in his policies on Israel. He has a lot to prove going forward."

So glad that a former Bush advisor and an unnamed former Obama supporter proves the President is losing the Jewish vote.  The reality, of course according to J Street's Jim Gerstein:

According to Gerstein, Democrats still maintained a 66 to 31 percent advantage among Jewish voters in the 2010 midterms — in a year where the GOP won in a landslide. Jewish voters voted for Democrats in greater numbers than other key Democratic constituencies, including unmarried women, Hispanics and voters under 30.

Further, Gerstein notes, Republicans and conservatives still have high disapproval numbers among Jewish voters — while Democrats, including the president, remain relatively popular. In July J Street polling, Jews disapprove of the tea party movement 74 percent, with 12 percent approval. They disapprove of Mitt Romney 60 percent to 16 percent, and they disapprove of former President George W. Bush 73 percent to to 16 percent. In the same survey, Obama is above water 56 percent to 34 percent — numbers similar to a recent Gallup polls from the fall that showed Obama at 54 percent to 41 percent.

The notion that Jewish voters are a monolithic block that wants the President to attack Iran or else they'll completely abandon the Democrats is absurd, but it's conventional wisdom in the Village, and they have no intention of trying to correct it themselves.