FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)Israel just isn’t the issue. But in this chaotic GOP presidential primary season, we hear a great deal about how President Obama— in the words of every-other-week frontrunner Mitt Romney — “has thrown Israel under the bus.” But in November, as with other Americans, Jews will vote more on economic views than pro-Israel ones.
Why is Israel not really the issue?
It’s because every candidate has good things to say about the Jewish state and actions to back up the words — whether votes in Congress, or expanding ties as a governor or creating historic levels of joint military cooperation from the White House.
Some Jews do vehemently oppose Obama’s stance on Israel, but few of them voted for him in 2008—when 78 percent of their co-religionists did. But to keep centrist-leaning Jews and others, President Obama now must — and likely will — back down from this week’s silly proposal.
As he debuted a $3.8 trillion federal budget, he created a rare moment in American Jewish life: He united the community. He did soby proposing to reduce the tax deductibility rate of charitable donations for taxpayers earning more than $250,000 to 28 percent from the current 35 percent.
There are two things every one in the non-profit world wants: less government regulation and more funds to do good work. And since the proposed change will discourage charitable donations, American Jewish groups are lining up against it.
Indeed, diverse Jewish groups raising the same flag of concern range from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations to the Jewish Federations of North America (Baltimore’s Associated belongs), from B’nai B’rith International to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (the Baltimore Jewish Council is a member).
The Orthodox Union — a majority of whose members vote GOP — claims that the shift could see donations to American charities plunge by $4 billion annually.
As OU director of public policy Nathan Diament bluntly told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “The tax deductibility of charitable contributions is, apart from a person’s generosity of spirit, the most powerful tool America’s charities possess to raise funds that enable them to serve their brothers and sisters.”
Is it all an Obama ploy to push the GOP-dominated House of Representatives to expire the allegedly temporary Bush-era tax cuts? After all, without that happening, there must be more slicing. And since healthcare and education costs keep rising, social service efforts will take the hit.
Interestingly, this comes as polls show growing Obama dissatisfaction amongst American Jews. A late 2011 American Jewish Committee survey had 53 percent not liking his handling of U.S.-Israeli relations. Meanwhile, more disapproved of his overall job performance (48 percent) than approved (45 percent).
No matter. A strong majority of Jews are highly unlikely to vote for any of the GOP’s present candidates (opting to stay home if they must). So to turn out those voters, the president must do the right things for them on the economy. That means he’ll likely rescind this week’s bad decision; why he made it in the first place is a bit baffling.