Israel Matzav

Obama to cut back White House Chanuka party?

In a move that's not likely to win him many friends in the Jewish community, the Obama White House is apparently going to cut the size of the guest list for the White House Chanuka party to half what it was in the Bush years (Hat Tip: Jennifer Rubin).

The scrutiny given to a White House Chanukah party, and particularly the guest list, will certainly be more intense in a Democratic administration than in the Bush years. One reason is the long-standing attachment of Jews to the Democratic Party, as voters and especially as donors. Fully 78 percent of Jewish voters supported the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008, and Jewish fund-raisers figured prominently in the campaign. Reducing the size of the guest list, as Obama officials want to do, will therefore be an extremely difficult task. Just inviting the more than 40 Democratic members of Congress and their spouses will take a significant portion of the allotted spots, let alone the expected invites to Jewish senior staffers and large-dollar donors.

Yet one wonders if there is more to this reduction than the reasons given by the administration, such as the high cost of kosher food and a desire to allow the list to grow over time.

Over the past year, the Obama administration has given the Jewish community a number of reasons to fear that it takes its votes for granted. For instance, there is the administration’s pressure on the Israeli government over settlements. And many Jews are concerned with the selection of Mary Robinson -- a leader of the Durban conference boycotted by both Israel and the United States for its anti-Israel bias -- to win a Medal of Freedom. In addition, the administration attempted -- but eventually backed away from -- to put Israel critic Charles Freeman at the head of the National Intelligence Council.

The administration’s move, as Politico noted, "comes on the heels of Obama's cancellation of an appearance before the General Assembly of North American Jewish Federations." (This was one instance where the president deserves the benefit of the doubt, having made the understandable decision to attend a memorial service for the victims at Fort Hood instead. Nonetheless, it has fueled the concerns of some who see it as part of a string of slights.)

For these reasons, while the size of the party may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, even some of Obama’s supporters may see it in the context of this longer train of politically tone-deaf decisions.

Indeed.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:20 AM