The Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Obama Jewish Council for Education and Research would seem to agree on one thing: These are perilous times, and we should all wake the f**k up. They also have both just released splashy new YouTube videos to make the case against their respective bete noirs (i.e., Mitt Romney and President Obama).
Beyond that, the two groups’ efforts don’t have much in common.
The JCER’s video, "Wake the F**k Up," enlists some serious star power, in the person of a rhyming and swearing Samuel L. Jackson, to sound the alarm about Mitt Romney’s domestic agenda. The video is inspired by Adam Mansbach’s pseudo-bedtime story “Go the F**k to Sleep” (for which Jackson read the audio book version). It is not aimed specifically at a Jewish audience. (Unlike previous JCER efforts, Sarah Silverman does not swear, nor even appear, in the video.)
By contrast, the RJC’s video, "Perilous Times," is decidedly more conventional, using documentary techniques to make the case that President Obama is no friend of Israel. The 9-minute video features interviews with a variety of Israelis (all men, incidentally) all warning that Obama has been bad news for the Jewish state. It also features a number of Democratic politicians (all Obama endorsers, and also all men) criticizing the president’s approach to Israel.
Here’s the video:
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The only larger truth that this pairing highlights is that Jewish Democrats are on the offensive on domestic policy whereas Jewish Republicans are focused on attacking the president’s Middle East approach — and both sides see the election in the starkest of terms. Also, Jewish Democrats have better Hollywood connections.
Don’t try listening to both videos simultaneously. It gave me a headache.
UPDATE: Bloomberg Business Week writes about JCER and interviews its co-founder, Mik Moore, in an article titled "An Obama Super PAC With Swearing, Sex, and Guns."
