November 10, 2008--Obama & Jews & Evangelicals

This weekend an acquaintance circulated an article about Barack Obama’s chief-of-staff to be—Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel comes from a fascinating family. His father is a pediatrician and was an Irgun fighter during Israel’s war of independence; his mother is a former civil rights activist; his older brother, Ezekiel, is a noted oncologist and bioethicist; his other brother, Ari, is a high-powered LA talent agent; and Rahm’s wife, Amy Rule, a Wharton School graduate, is a practicing Orthodox Jew.

But the real point of his circulating the email was not to pass along Rahm’s fascinating biography but to assure Jews that by appointing Emanuel chief of staff we Jews dodn’t have to worry that Barack Obama is going to tilt too far in favoring Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran: Rahn, who himself was a civilian volunteer in Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, would presumably not allow that to happen.

Here, slightly modified, is the note my friend appended to the article:

I wonder if this use of Jews by Obama will turn the black community from hatred of Jews to believers that we were the supporters of Selma, Alabama and that we fought alongside them for so many years.

Considering that 78 percent of Jews last week voted for Barack Obama (Kerry received “only” 74 percent four years ago), not all Jews require this reassurance. And certainly “the black community,” whatever that is, hardly needs to be reminded about Jewish support during the civil right era. Particulalrly in this way. They’ve already heard enough of that. But progress takes many forms and we should probably be glad for even this version.

But missing in the blizzard of data tumbling from the recent election is comment about turnout among Republican-base evangelical supporters and how they actually voted.

From Frank Rich, among others, we have been hearing not only about how Jews voted but also about how Obama won overwhelming support from Hispanics, the young, gays, women, suburbanites, and even did well among white Reagan Democrats—he carried Pennsylvania, for example, by 11 points and turned at least nine former red states blue.

What, though, about Christian Evangelicals who in the past were so reliably mobilized by Karl Rove and Jerry Falwell?

Well, as expected, John McCain, with the lift Sarah Palin may have provided, received the goodly share of their votes—in the aggregate 76 percent. Not much of a surprise there.

But if one disaggregates this there is an interesting tale revealed:

Among self-described Evangelicals under the age of 30, Barack Obama received 32 percent of their votes, exactly twice Kerry’s 16 percent. Of those between 30 and 44 years of age Obama received 23 percent to Kerry’s 12 percent.

So as with other groups that traditionally vote Republican (suburbanites, for example) or resist, it is claimed, voting for African Americans (Hispanics and Jew), this election Obama, as the pundits put it, “over-performed.” (See the New York Times article linked below.)

Especially among all younger voters he did much better than is traditionally expected for a Democrat.

This, then, may be the real meaning of the change that occurred last Tuesday. It is as much cultural and generational as it is about specific issues such as the economy and the war in Iraq. Of course Obama benefited by his positions about these, but he was elected more because he reflects who we are becoming as a nation.