Does Obama Have A Messaging Problem With American Jews--Or Are They Hearing Him Loud And Clear?

Dan Senor, co-author with Saul Singer of "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" explains Why Obama Is Losing the Jewish Vote. It is more than an issue of a "messaging problem" or someone going around distorting what Obama is saying.

If Obama is actually serious about recovering the Jewish vote, he should look at the examples Senor provides of where Obama sent a clear negative message to the Jewish community all on his own.

Here are some of the examples Senor gives:

• February 2008: When running for president, then-Sen. Obama told an audience in Cleveland: "There is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel." At the time, Likud had been out of power for two years.

• September 2009: In his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama declared (to loud applause) that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," connecting rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with living conditions in Gaza. There was not a single unconditional criticism of Palestinian terrorism.

• March 2010: During Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Jerusalem municipal office announced plans for new construction in a part of Jerusalem and the president launched a weeks-long offensive against Israel. Yet, shortly after Biden left the West Bank, when the Palestinian Authority honored Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for one of the deadliest Palestinian terror attacks in history that killed 38, including 13 children and an American, Obama was silent. 

Read the whole thing.

Of course, whether the American Jewish community has somehow misread Obama's position--or whether American Jews have finally begun to catch on to what Obama's real agenda is--is a separate question that will continue to be debated.

One clue may be how much time Obama spends blaming others as opposed to describing a clear, consistent policy.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Obama.