Obama: "My links to the Jewish community are not political"

[sabra]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/obama_claims_jewish_kinship.html

Race, his middle name and "scurrilous emails" about him are partly responsible for the discomfort some people have with him, Barack Obama told Jewish leaders in a private meeting in the Philadelphia area today.

He also told the group of 75 leaders at a local synagogue that he feels a sense of "kinship" with the Jewish community, and that he has been influenced in his life by Jewish writers, philosophers and friends.

“There is a kinship and a sense of shared community that predates my political career and will extend beyond this particular election," Obama said, according to the pool report from the closed-door event. "Know that I will be there for you, just as I believe that you will be there for me.”

“My links to the Jewish community are not political," he said. "They preceded my entry into politics.”

Before Obama showed up, several of his supporters spoke to the assembly at Rodeph Shalom synagogue, according to Larry Eichel, the Philadelphia Inquirer senior writer who filed the account for the traveling press corps.

All of the speakers reportedly offered assurances that Obama is a friend of Israel and of the American Jewish community.

[theoldman]

1. I do not think any person can win the presidential election

unless they say they are a friend of Israel. It is necessary to get the Christian vote. In the first place, there are not very many Jews in the US. In the second place, not all Jews agree with what is happening in Israel.

[mac2]

2. He voted as such.