Obama Officials Lobby Reform Jews

By Jacqueline L. Salmon

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is hot right now.

At its biannual conference in Washington D.C. this week, it has seen three high-ranking Obama administration officials troop through to give speeches -- senior adviser David Axelrod, chief economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers, and Joshua Dubois, head of the Office of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

That's not to say that this quintessentially liberal group's social-justice meeting was ignored by the Bush Administration. In 2007, the administration shipped over Andrew Natsios, Bush's special envoy for Sudan and, in 2005, it sent Noam Nuesner, White House liaison to the Jewish community. In 2003, John Bridgeland, Bush's deputy policy director, spoke.

But this year's administration speakers were definitely higher-level officials.

At yesterday's afternoon session, Axelrod clicked through the administration priorities -- which happen to coincide with most of the RAC's priorities. Health-care reform, global warming initiative, the "two-state" solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

The only remotely skeptical question Axelrod got was on the Obama's administration's refusal to name a "truth and reconciliation commission" to investigate the potential misdeeds of the Bush administration. But Axelrod got a smattering of applause when he responded that the administration wanted to focus on the future.

Rabbi David Saperstein, Religion Action Center director, called the Obama administration turnout "gratifying."

"Clearly, the Jewish community's consensus political view resonate deeply with this administration and where Congressional leadership is now," he said. "It gives us an opportunity to be much more proactive in pushing our agenda forward."

It's been a good year for Saperstein. He recently topped Newsweek's list of 50 most influential American rabbis.

By Jacqueline L. Salmon  |  April 21, 2009; 8:11 AM ET  | Category:  God in Government
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