Sunday, September 18th 2011, 4:00 AM
Simmons/News
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch said he's staying on President Obama about one issue close to him.
When Gov. Cuomo announced there would be a special election in the 9th Congressional District to replace Anthony Weiner, I gave public voice to an idea that had been percolating in my head for some time. As everyone now knows, I wound up strongly supporting the candidacy of Bob Turner, who last week won the seat in a hotly contested race.
But if he doesn't read the tea leaves and change his position, you can be certain I will continue to bang my drum. I will campaign against him not only in New York, but in other parts of the country next year. I'll be loud and clear about what I believe. There are many Floridians who are concerned about the Obama administration's treatment of Israel, and Florida will be crucial to the President's reelection.
Why am I so driven to send a message to a President whom I agree with on many other issues? I am a Democrat. I served the people of New York in Congress, the City Council and as mayor, elected to all of these positions on the Democratic ticket. I campaigned for Obama when he ran for President in 2008. At his request, I traveled to the Jewish communities in Florida and Pennsylvania. He thanked me personally, even as I told him that the Jews in Florida were overwhelmingly for him and needed no coaxing from me.
He received 78% of the Jewish vote nationally. The only group providing a larger vote for him was African-Americans -- over 90%.
Following his swearing in, however, it became clear to many Jews, including me, that he was not as friendly to Israel as we thought he would be. His special efforts to solicit support in the Muslim world seemed to me to indicate a change in the relationship with Israel that had existed since 1948, beginning with President Harry Truman and continuing to and including President George W. Bush. That relationship with Israel had always been referred to as special, and, rightly or wrongly, supporters of Israel had the feeling he was distancing himself from it. We were astounded that he has never visited Israel on his several trips to the Mideast.
Many in the Jewish community became even more concerned when Obama treated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a disparaging way at the White House, ordering that no pictures of the event be taken and leaving the prime minister to stew, announcing he was going upstairs to have dinner with his family -- a rudeness described as such by the media. The orchestrated verbal attacks on Israel and its prime minister by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Clinton for disagreements on Israel's housing policies of building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were, for supporters of Israel, very disquieting.
The final straw was Obama's latest call for peace talks, telling Israel it should agree to the pre-1967 lines plus "mutually agreed upon swaps." If he had added language demanding that Hamas, a terrorist organization according to the U.S., European Union, UN and Russia -- the Quartet -- renounce terrorism, it might have been different. If he had insisted that Hamas rescind its charter (which calls for the expulsion of every Jew who entered Palestine after 1917), recognize the legitimacy of Israel and agree that, if negotiations were successful, it would also recognize Israel as a Jewish state, it might have been different.
In those cases, I would not have assailed the President as being hostile to Israel. But he did not. His demands were made solely of Israel.
Recently the Obama administration has been working hard to fight the dangerous Palestinian bid for unilateral recognition at the United Nations. They deserve praise for working so hard; other Western countries ought to be ashamed for not following the United States' lead.
When Gov. Cuomo announced there would be a special election in the 9th district, I publicly urged that this contest be used as a vehicle for sending the President a message: We want you to change your policy on Israel and once again see Israel as our ally with a special relationship to the United States.
After I made that statement, I received a call from the Republican candidate, Bob Turner, who asked for my endorsement. He came to my office. We talked. He told me of his support for my position on Israel. I told him that for me to get involved, there would have to be two messages, mine on Israel and his on social issues -- a statement that he opposed the efforts of the Republican national leadership to privatize Social Security and Medicare, and their proposal to turn Medicaid into a block grant.
He said he believed the three programs should remain entitlements, made solvent through internal changes on eligibility and coverage. I have the same position and believe Obama's position is the same as well. I told Turner to put it in writing. He left, came back and provided his statement on these issues, which was made public when I went to his Queens headquarters and endorsed him.
I call myself "a liberal with sanity." Turner is a compassionate conservative. We agree on some important issues and disagree on others. When I announced that I would endorse Turner, I received a call from David Weprin, the Democratic candidate who was understandably very agitated. He said, "How can you do this? I can send the same message."
I said, "David, you can't send the same message. If you are elected, Obama is going to say, 'ho hum, another Democrat,' and it will have no impact. When Turner, a Republican, is elected in this district, which has the largest Jewish constituency in the country, he will sit up and take notice."
I ended with, "David, don't take this personally; this issue is bigger than you or me."
Interestingly, during all of this time, all of my close personal friends with whom I meet every Saturday (with one exception, Henry Stern, the parks commissioner in my administration) disapproved of my intended actions. Stern not only approved, but was instrumental in getting the endorsement of the Liberal Party for Turner. Turner, the candidate of the Conservative and Republican parties, was endorsed by the Daily News and the New York Post. Weprin was endorsed by the New York Times. Serendipitously, when I ran for mayor in 1977, I was endorsed by the Daily News and the Post, with the Times endorsing Mario Cuomo.
At the start of the campaign, the Democrats believed they had a lock on the election. When two polls taken a week before the election showed Turner six points ahead, the Democratic Party panicked -- pouring in several hundred thousand dollars for radio and television ads. Robo calls for Weprin were made by President Bill Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Cuomo – all to no avail. Bob Turner won by a margin of 8% in a district where the registration is 3 to 1 Democratic over Republican.
Turner, whom I first met less than 10 weeks ago, has become a friend. He is an intelligent, thoughtful, courageous human being.
I believe I will be supportive of much of what he does as a member of Congress and, of course, I will be in opposition on those occasions when my political philosophy conflicts with his.
This country, in my judgment, has a majority that is close to the center. It is his job to work with the opposition and seek compromises that benefit our wonderful country. I have no doubt he will make his constituency and those of us who supported him but couldn't vote for him because we don't live in the district -- like me -- very proud. Good luck, Bob.
Koch was mayor of New York City.
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