Many Jewish Democrats have lit up the White House switchboard and filled the president’s desk with personal pleas urging Bill Clinton to veto welfare reform legislation.
On the eve of next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Clinton was scheduled to sign the bill, prompting a new round of outcries from many of the party’s base.
Despite their dismay, many Jewish supporters are putting aside their deep disagreement with the administration over welfare to work toward their common goal: re-electing the president.
“I was disappointed when the president agreed to sign the bill,” said Lynn Lyss, a co-chair of the Clinton-Gore Jewish Leadership Council.
“But he has committed to submitting legislation to the next Congress to fix the provisions” that cut immigrants’ access to benefits, said Lyss, who also serves on the convention’s platform committee.
Expressing the sentiments of many Jewish activists, Lyss, a former chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council who was one of those to urge a veto, said, “We’re not going to stay home and we’re going to be energized.
“This president overall has the vision for where this country needs to go.”
Basking in an estimated 90 percent approval rating from American Jews, Clinton hopes to build on his 1992 record when four out of every five American Jews who voted cast their ballot for the Clinton-Gore ticket.
The approval rating comes from several polls conducted since 1994, according to several Democratic sources.
As the race for the White House tightens, both Democrats and Republicans say the Jewish vote could play a significant role in swing states.
With a traditionally large turnout at the ballot box, the Jewish vote could provide either candidate with the margin of victory — or close to it — in states such as New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
“At the end, this race will be decided by 3 or 4 points,” said Deborah Mohile, director of Jewish outreach for the Clinton-Gore campaign.
An unpublished survey of likely Jewish voters conducted early this summer by a leading Democratic polling company found Clinton beating Dole 78 to 12.
The poll, commissioned by a Jewish organization that released the information on the condition that its name not be used, found that 9 percent of those surveyed said they did not know for whom they would vote.
More than 750 Jews were polled in the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Due to rounded figures, the numbers do not add up to 100 percent.
With this advantage in mind, the campaign and the National Jewish Democratic Council plan to hit the ground running after Clinton’s formal nomination next week at the Chicago convention.
With 10 weeks until Election Day, Democrats hope to focus the Jewish community’s attention on the “stark differences between Clinton and Dole on issues important to the Jewish community,” said Stephen Silberfarb, assistant director of the NJDC.
On welfare, in particular, Democratic activists see a difference.
“Are people upset about the welfare bill? That’s clearly the case,” Silberfarb said.
But, he added, “in President Clinton we have somebody who wants to come back and revisit sections of the bill,” while Dole “wouldn’t fix it, he hails it.”
Campaign officials also point out that Clinton has assembled a task force to look at ways to ease the reform’s impact through administrative means. While the legislation sets out policy, how the reforms are actually implemented is governed by the way federal agencies write the rules.
“The only way to correct the bill is to re-elect the president,” said Donna Bojarsky, a Jewish activist who will attend the convention as a California delegate from Los Angeles.
Democrats also plan to attack Bob Dole and his running mate, Jack Kemp, on their support for school prayer and a ban on abortions.
“While focused on welfare, the Jewish community is more concerned about prayer in school and reproductive freedom,” Silberfarb said. “The choice is clear.”
The Republican platform calls for a constitutional amendment banning abortions and for a return of prayer to America’s classrooms.
Democrats oppose prayer in school and favor abortion rights, which they term “reproductive choice.”
Aside from signing the welfare reform bill, Clinton sought this week to solidify his base voters, including Jews, by staging high- profile signing ceremonies for measures that raise the minimum wage and partially reform the health care system.
Jewish Democrats also plan to attack Dole’s record on Israel, while highlighting Clinton’s “record of both compassion for Israel and problem- solving in the Middle East,” said Bojarsky, the California delegate.
“Clinton is reliable and has a `kishka’ feeling for Israel that Dole does not have,” Silberfarb said.
Activists pointed to Clinton’s reference to the slain Yitzhak Rabin during his speech at his 50th birthday gala this week at Radio City Music Hall as his latest in a series of “heartfelt, pro-Israel statements,” said one campaign official.
“I started out my presidency with one of the greatest men I ever met in my life, the late prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin. I miss him so much,” Clinton said Sunday to rousing applause of those gathered at the hall.
Challenging Republican claims that Jack Kemp will moderate Dole on Israel, Silberfarb said, “Kemp has already shown that he will move to Dole’s positions on affirmative action and immigration.”
While his recent legislative history has been widely described as pro-Israel, Dole has, in the past, called for a cut in Israel’s aid and has opposed moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Before resigning from the Senate, Dole reversed himself and sponsored legislation recognizing Jerusalem and requiring the embassy to be moved.
Armed with issues that they believe will strike a chord with Jewish voters, activists say that for Clinton to succeed, the Jewish electorate has to be mobilized and enthusiastic about the election.
“The fear of a Dole win is enough to get Jews out to the polls,” Mohile said, adding that the campaign is not taking any votes for granted.
Officials began to mobilize this week by sending activists across the country a workbook titled, “Getting Out the Jewish Vote for Clinton-Gore.”
At the convention next week, an estimated 400 Jewish delegates, representing about 10 percent of the total, will meet with campaign officials to coordinate their efforts to reach out to voters in their communities.
“The Jewish vote in key states is a constituency important to the president,” Bojarsky said.
“As activists we will regroup” from the welfare defeat, “but there is no talk of defections from Clinton-Gore.”
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