I’m gazing into my own crystal ball — actually, a bowl of chicken soup on a chilly, Florida day — and am contemplating the Jewish vote Nov. 6. Can it really be that the final figures will show a 50/50 split of their allegiance between the two parties? Will the Jewish vote actually drag Mitt Romney across the finish line in states such as Florida, Ohio and Virginia and into the presidency? Will this election be the opportunity for the Jewish voter to finally discard the “Democrat gene” they have been passing on from one generation to the next? Will they finally realize that in this country, for which so many of them have fought in so many wars, they actually have the right to select for office whomever they feel is best-suited to meet their needs? I think so, and here’s why.

History tells us that the Jewish vote, until Jews’ suicidal fascination with Obama, had been creeping ever so slowly into the Republican column. But Democrats have, for nearly 100 years, been their favored party. Candidates like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton seemed to gather up the Jewish vote as if they were wearing yarmulkes all their lives. They could do no wrong in the eyes of Jews. Johnson could turn a blind eye toward Egypt’s moves prior to the 1967 war, and Clinton could warmly embrace Yasser Arafat during the terrorist’s many visits to the White House.  So why am I so optimistic about this election, from a Republican standpoint?

No other president has been as abysmal toward Jewish sympathies as Obama. Jews gave him a pass in voting for him with 78 percent support in 2008. They ignored his 20-year membership to a church of hate. While listening to his speeches in Ankara and Cairo, they strained to pick out any positive pro-Israel phrases, or even words that would indicate he was not anti-Israel. They refused to watch Fox News or tune in to Rush Limbaugh as Obama’s clearly pro-Islamic actions were detailed. They chose to be willfully ignorant. They swooned at his Obamacare proposals, which would cripple their phenomenal medical coverage. They ignored his blessing of the Occupy Wall Street movement. They closed their eyes to his outright hostility to Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their kids and grandkids are getting out of the so-called best schools, burdened with huge student loans and no job prospects. Their homes are selling way under their purchase price. Their bank accounts earn bupkis. Their cars eat up the monthly mortgage payments in gas.

But now, it’s “push comes to shove” time. They have had four years of “hope for change,” and it hasn’t come to pass. Now the jig is up. They have to make a choice, and it’s not going to be easy. They may feel guilty about it, but they will vote against Obama or just skip the election and hope that others with more gumption will kick this guy out of office. So says the round matzah ball floating around in that steamy liquid.

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Alan Bergstein

Alan Bergstein comes to our pages as a Brooklyn native. Father of four, retired NYC Principal, Korean War Veteran, patriot and Jewish and Israel activist.

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