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Sign the Open Letter to Sen. McCain:  It's Time for Straight Talk on Jewish Issues
Jews for Obama Newsletter - Issue #3   May 5, 2008

Greetings!

Senator John McCain promised to pursue a respectful presidential campaign that would do us proud as Americans.   He pledged that his conduct during the campaign would show how he could build coalitions to meet the difficult challenges our country faces.   He promised straight talk. 

 

Despite these vows, he has joined those attempting to tar Senator Obama with the outrageous remarks of Rev. Wright, while doing little to stop a race-baiting TV commercial from being aired by the Republican Party in North Carolina.  

 

What's more, his campaign has tried to paint Sen. Obama as the favorite candidate of the Israel-hating terrorists from Hamas, even though Obama's position on Hamas is identical to his own.  What's more, the Hamas official referred to Obama while praising President Carter for negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel, expressing hope that the former president could negotiate peace between Israel and Hamas.  

 

Such character assassination has no place in civil and respectful political debate in America.

 

And while Senator Obama has clearly rejected the outrageous and appalling remarks of Rev. Wright, Senator McCain sought out  and has recently said that he continues to welcome the endorsement of Rev. John Hagee, a bigot whose views are no less offensive than those of Rev. Wright who has written that Jews are responsible for their own persecution.  

 

Adding insult to injury, Sen. McCain's campaign has just appointed as its national finance co-chair Fred Malek, whose dubious background includes counting and demoting Jews at the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the Nixon Administration.

 

Jews for Obama invites you to sign our open letter to Senator McCain calling on him to keep his promise to conduct a civil, truthful campaign, free from lies and smears, to renounce the endorsement of extremists like Pastor Hagee, repudiate his hateful anti-Jewish remarks, and dismiss anti-Semites from his campaign.   Senator McCain: Its time for straight talk on Jewish issues!

 

Click here to read the Open Letter to Sen. McCain and to sign on

 

Help us send a resounding message!  Please forward this open letter issue to your friends and family and join us in protest to Senator McCain.

 

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McCain promised a civil campaign

 

Senator McCain:

We call upon you to keep your promise to conduct a civil, truthful campaign, free from lies and smears; to renounce the endorsement of extremists like Pastor Hagee, repudiate his hateful anti-Jewish remarks, and dismiss anti-Semites like Fred Malek from your campaign.

Senator McCain: Its time for straight talk on Jewish issues!

 
Sign the Open Letter to Sen. McCain
 
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Please forward this open letter issue to your friends and family and join us in protest to Senator McCain.
 
 

Jews for Obama Exclusive --

Former US Mideast Advisor Aaron Miller Endorses Obama:  Better than Clinton or McCain for Negotiating Israeli-Arab Peace
 
Aaron David Miller
 

Aaron David Miller, author of a new memoir The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace, who served as a Mideast advisor to six secretaries of state and as Deputy Special Middle East Coordinator for Arab-Israeli Negotiations, told a Century Foundation luncheon in New York City on Thursday that "Regardless of who wins the election in November, each of the three presidential candidates will maintain the special US-Israel relationship." 

 

"But," Mr. Miller continued, "when it comes to Arab-Israeli diplomacy, of the three presidential contenders--Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain--Obama would be the president who could best help Israel and her Arab neighbors negotiate peace. Senator Obama has the capacity, intellect and temperament to best handle the kind of diplomacy needed for this extraordinarily tough job."   Mr. Miller added that he was not advising any candidate and has both served and voted for Republican and Democratic presidents.  

 

Aaron David Miller memoir

 
Why Being Pro-McCain is Anti-Israel, Dylan Loewe
 
 
Al Qaeda Endorsed Bush on Iraq
 

For many American Jews, choosing who to support in a presidential election comes down to a simple litmus test: Which candidate will be better for Israel?   

 

Obama has been condemned for including, among his vast array of foreign policy advisors, individuals who have been critical of some aspect of Israeli government policy.  Suggesting that someone is anti-Israel because he disagrees with an aspect of Israeli policy is tantamount to calling those who have been critical of the Bush administration anti-American.

 

Though George Bush may be a friend of Israel, his policies are certainly not.  A McCain/Bush worldview will mean continued destabilization of the Middle East, which will pose a serious security risk to Israel.

 
More Than a Gas Tax Holiday,
Jews for Obama Editorial
 
 
 
Global consequences
 
The alarming  and rising threats to food, environment, energy, and health security--not preacher sound bites--should be center stage for all people of faith this election season.

 

Instead we have economic policies like a check to every family, an incumbent's attempt at buying love and re-election. We have the other two candidates promising a holiday in the Gasoline Tax. What's next?  Will McCain declare "Free Beer" in October to be donated by his wife's company to "help the working class"?

 

Senator Obama recently explained why he believes that the gas-tax holiday is not the solution to skyrocketing gas prices, but a serious error leading only to more pollution, higher profits for Exxon, and less investment in efficiency, and all economists agree.  Unable to name a single economist in support of the policy, Hillary Clinton declares that she is not going to put her "lot in with economists."   In response, former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich warns against continuing to elect politicians "who reject facts in favor of short-term poll-driven politics."

 

Click here for more on what the candidates should be doing about the multiple crises facing our country and the world.

 
 
Israel Independence Day-60th
 

As we move from the sadness of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah, to the joy of celebrating Israel Independence Day, Yom Ha'atzmaut, this week, we share these words which Barack Obama offered on Friday: 

"Today, we remember the light that was brought into the world by each of the six million Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust, as well as the terrible darkness of the Nazi genocide. We also renew our commitment to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism everywhere, and to stand up against extremism and prejudice of any form.

"Let us resolve to confront genocide and work to prevent mass atrocities, beginning with greater action to stop the killing in Darfur. And let us stand with the Jewish State of Israel, a strong and resilient democracy that emerged out of the shadow of the Holocaust, but which still has enemies that threaten its destruction.

"The years may pass, but our memory of the Holocaust will never fade. Instead, it guides our commitment to honor those who were lost, recall the crimes that were committed, and work for a more just, peaceful, and hopeful future for all people."

 
May this 60th anniversary since the founding of the State of Israel herald the establishment of a secure and comprehensive peace between Israel and her neighbors.    May the election of a new President of the United States mark a turning point in Israel's and the Jewish people's quest for peace and justice in the world.  
 
B'virkat shalom,
 
Doni
 
Editor-in-Chief & Publisher
 

 
Jews for Obama is a grassroots American Jewish initiative and not affiliated with the Obama Campaign. 
 
In This Issue
1. Sign the Open Letter to Sen. McCain: It's Time for Straight Talk on Jewish Issues
2. JFO Exclusive: Former US Mideast Advisor Aaron Miller: Obama Better than Clinton or McCain for Negotiating Israeli-Arab Peace
3. Why Being Pro-McCain is Anti-Israel, Dylan Loewe
4. More Than a Gas Tax Holiday, JFO Editorial
 
The Empire Strikes Barack!
 
Click on the image to watch this week's web video adventure!
 
Empire Strikes Barack!
 
These are the times that try men's and women's souls.
 
Obama tells it like it is:  How to solve the gas price crisis
 
Click on the image to watch the clip
 
Obama--The Truth About the Gas Price Crisis
 
Obama tells voters the truth about the gas tax holiday and says it's time to investigate oil companies for price gouging and for Congress to adopt higher fuel efficiency standards and invest in alternative fuels.
 
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Combating the Right-Wing Smear Machine
 

Nuclear Weapons Expert Joseph Cirincione: Not Anti-Israel, Not a Key Obama Advisor

 
Obama poster
 

The most recent scurrilous attack against Barack Obama's Israel credentials to come out of the right-wing smear machine is the accusation that one of Obama's "key advisers," nuclear weapons expert Joseph Cirincione, is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. 

 

This follows the pattern of previous attacks in that Cirincione is not, in fact, one of Obama's key advisers, and is actually a strong supporter of Israel.

Previous Editions
 
If you missed previous issues of the Jews for Obama e-Newsletter, you can now view them on the web
 
Obama meets with Philly Jewish leaders
 
 
Jews for Obama in the News
 
Obama & Clinton
 

The Jews for Obama Newsletter  was in a front page story last week in the Forward in a report about Hillary Clinton's controversial
 threat to "massively retaliate" against Iran if it attacked any US Mideast ally: "Middle East Policy Emerges as Wedge Issue in Clinton's Pennsylvania Win,"  by Jennifer Siegel.

 

 

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