NY-9 and the Mind-Boggling, Rage-Inducing Arrogance of Obama

The election results from Tuesday's special election in New York's 9th congressional district exposed a major loss in loyalty from a voting block that has been among the most loyal to Democrats throughout history. Jews, and New York Jews in particular, have stood by Democrats for decades even as some Democrats have gone quite overboard pandering to the academic/progressive left's love affair with the Palestinian cause. Too often, these Democrats have made apologies for Palestinian terrorism and been openly hostile to Israeli governments, and yet Jews have stood by Democrats all these years. It is elemental for most NY Jews - yes, Israel is important, but you just don't vote for Republicans. It simply isn't done. Alas, in NY-9 the Jewish vote swung for Bob Turner, the Republican, in what is clearly viewed as a rebuke to President Obama over his policy toward Israel. This is an earthquake and I'll try to analyze it in just a bit, but first let's look at the White House's response. From the NY Times:

Tuesday’s Republican upset in New York’s Congressional election, they say, is a sign of bad things to come for Mr. Obama.

Sensing trouble, the Obama campaign and Democratic Party leaders have mobilized to solidify the president’s standing with Jewish voters. The Democratic National Committee has established a Jewish outreach program. The campaign is singling out Jewish groups, donors and other supporters with calls and e-mails to counter the Republican narrative that Mr. Obama is hostile to Israel.

Among those efforts is a multi-page set of talking points circulated last Friday with the title, “President Obama’s Stance on Israel: Myths vs. Facts.”

This is consonant with the typical reaction to recent electoral defeats for the Democrats. They got slaughtered last November and they attributed it to bad "messaging". Remember that one? They claimed that they talked over our heads, so we didn't understand them. They're always blaming the way they say things, not what they say or what they do. This stems from their intrinsic arrogance and self-assessment of superiority - they know that they are right on substance, it simply has to be a communication issue. Knowing this, "talking points" are exactly the remedy that one would expect the Obama administration to apply to this newly opened and gaping wound to his political fortune. Repackage the message.

Now, on to the why of the NY-9 Jewish vote. Democrats have dallied with Palestinian terrorists and hectored Israel for years and the Jewish vote has stayed loyal, so why now? Why did they abandon Obama now? The answer is that Obama has done more than slap Israel around and dance with Palestinian thugs. He has thoroughly trashed the alliance between the US and Israel and abandoned them to their own fate, which has emboldened Israels enemies. Obama has signaled to the world that he and Netanyahu cannot work together and he will not be coming to Bibi's aid. Thus, aggression against Israel has ramped up at a shocking pace because Israel's enemies know that the alliance between the US and Israel is at an all-time low point and they will probably never again get an opportunity like this again to damage the Jewish state. Rocket attacks have resumed from Gaza, Assad is sending waves of rabble-rousers over the border with Israel, terrorist attacks are being launched from Egypt, and, out of the blue, Turkey is talking war over the deliberately provocative and stupid Gaza aid flotilla. All the while, Obama eggs this on with sote voce and overt rebukes and demands that Israel return to the 1967 borders, again a crazy, out of the blue, development with no basis in policy reality or recent precedent. Israelis and American Jews understand that this can only be driven by pure animus and they understand there is no going back, he has unleashed the war dogs of the Middle East on Israel.

That is why Obama has lost swaths of the Jewish vote. It is a near unprecedented squandering of an asset, but not to worry, he has talking points.

Talking points. Obama has left Israel alone on the brink of war but he's gonna email out some talking points.

There there Jews, read these talking points.

The arrogance. The mind-boggling, rage-inducing arrogance.