An unvarnished assessment from Dan Wofford, the son of Harris Wofford and an Obama supporter:
- Working class PA folks, esp those over 45, don't trust Obama...this is a problem and other than getting them to meet Obama retail style...don't know how we solve it, unless we can get him to do a quick tour of duty in Iraq... 9. Losing the Catholic and Jewish vote: Way to[o] cautious in outreach to Jewish community...did not put enough assets out on the table...not enough Jewish folks involved....self perpetuating problem...Think the same is true for Catholics.....A friend close to the campaign said she was surprised to see how few Catholics and Jews there were on the campaign...don't know how true this is...but most campaign's we've been on, Catholics and Jews seem to predomoinate....As a proud Wasp, I have been an oppressed minority in many a campaign...
Worth reading the whole thing, which was obtained by the Politico's Ben Smith. Wofford does think bittergate had an impact, but to me the most interesting bit here is his conclusion that Obama was "way too cautious in outreach to Jewish community." Obama has Jew problems, but more importantly he has Israel problems. Whether he would, in the event, be just as strong a supporter of Israel as McCain or Clinton is irrelevant, because nobody but Obama supporters believe that to be the case (and their idea of " support" may be different from the rest of us). Obama needs to make an effort to assuage the doubts about his candidacy among those who view Israeli security as an important issue--the vast majority of whom are not Jewish, though they may take some cues from the Jewish community. But he makes no effort to do this. It seems like Obama will pander on any issue but Israel. No wonder Hamas endorsed him.