Did McCain solve Obama's 'Jewish problem'?

Ben Smith argues that Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has solved Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Hussein Obama's 'Jewish problem' - Obama's weak support in the Jewish community - through McCain's selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Based on anecdotal evidence in a community I've covered for years, Sarah Palin's nomination has generated a bit of backlash among Jewish voters. Where John McCain was making inroads for his place in the secular, hawkish wing of the GOP, and where there were doubts about Obama, there's now concern and viral e-mails about Palin.

Some, on little evidence, paint her as a Buchanan acolyte; others accurately point out that she, unlike McCain, hails from the evangelical Christian wing of her party, which would like to see more overt displays of Christianity in the public square. (There's a minority of observant Jews who would also prefer this, but this — and vehement anti-abortion stance — lose you a lot more Jewish votes than it wins.)

In any case, at the heart of this — as of so much about her — is the almost complete absence of evidence of her views on this issue. Aside from signing an boilerplate Israel-Alaska friendship resolution, Palin doesn't have a paper trail on Middle East politics, and she hasn't been to Israel. Her Alaska Jewish allies I spoke to had no recollection of discussing the issue with her in detail. Meanwhile, two Jewish Obama fundraisers have told me since the Palin pick that they've seen Jewish donors moving to Obama.

Smith has a point, but I wouldn't read as much into it as he does. Yes, there is concern about Sarah Palin in the Jewish community. Unfortunately, the Buchanan libel made the rounds before anything else was even out about Palin. And it is also correct that many Jews - especially the secular and non-observant ones (who make up the majority of the Jewish community) - are deeply concerned that overt displays of Christianity could be the first sign of the establishment of a state religion in the United States. He's also right that most Jews - even observant ones - are nowhere near as anti-abortion as Christian evangelicals and Catholics (Jewish law does allow abortions under certain circumstances, but they are few and far between). But the Jewish votes McCain was going to get - and can still get - are largely the votes of the observant and of those who openly identify themselves as Jewish, and not the votes of the secular and unaffiliated Jews who would be most bothered by the fact that Palin is a born-again Christian.

Where McCain and Palin can eventually make up much of what they have lost (Hat Tip: Hot Air) this weekend - at least when it comes to the Jewish community - is when it comes to Israel. Unlike Obama, who had a rich history of meeting with 'Palestinian' enemies of Israel, Palin is essentially tabula rasa when it comes to Israel, at least in the public sphere. From what little she has said of Israel in public, she is supportive of Israel and sensitive to our security needs, and by playing up that support and that sensitivity, McCain can 'restore' Obama's Jewish problem. While many Jews are knee-jerk Democratic voters, there is still a lot of mistrust of Obama in the Jewish community. One good Reverend Wright speech would be enough to reawaken it. But it may not even take that for McCain to carry Florida with Palin.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.