DOAKS

The JTA stands for the “Jewish Telegraphic Agency“.

MLB stands for “Major League Baseball”.

FYI, which of course stands for “For your information”, the JTA has a solid blog on the elections. From a Jewish perspective. After all, the “J” in JTA doesn’t stand for Jalapeno…Here’s the link.

Today, my friend Joel, made me aware of something neat. The JTA has an article titled “Fearing political backlash and IRS, nonprofits work to appear neutral“. The article is slightly longer than the title. Kidding. It’s much longer!

The article was written by Eric Fingerhut. I hate judgmental people. And particularly those who speculate about the significance of a name. My guess is that Eric enjoys finger foods and that his favorite Jewish Holiday is Sukkot. And that during Sukkot, Fingerhut will indulge in finger foods in the Sukkah hut.

This year, there’s been a lot of talk of religion of politics. Especially with organizations like Rabbis For Obama.

Anyways, coolest thing ever. Along with the column, there’s a photo of a guy wearing a McCippah and an Obamica! The consummate bipartisan Jew!

Not sure if you heard. There is a group called Rabbis For Obama. Like the name suggests, this is a group of Rabbis (not priests), endorsing Barack Obama (not Senator McCain).

Their site is here. You can read more coverage about Rabbis for Obama, here and here.

Anyways, I think this is a superb concept. Why? Because let’s face it; most people really form an opinion based on what the Rabbi likes. If the Rabbi drinks Dr. Pepper, then the community develops a taste for this fine brand of cola.

I know lots of Jews. When they go into the polling booth, they are no longer thinking about the issues. The economy? Blah. National security? Blah blah. What goes through their mind moments before pulling the lever is: “who is my Rabbi voting?”. And then they pull the lever accordingly.

So, it was a breath of fresh air to see these maverick Rabbis pool resources and create a coalition.

Not to be outdone, I resolved to emerge from the caves of silence. I introduce to you the freshly minted organization called “Rabies for Obama“. Basically, it is a group of different forms of rabies that have joined together to endorse Senator Obama. Link.

To be fair, I need to create a broad coalition supporting McCain as well. Not sure if it will be called “Measles for McCain” or “Smallpox for John McCain’. Stay tuned.