Will backlash over the Middle East policy speech ultimately cost Barack Obama his re-election?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/21/us-usa-campaign-mideast-idUSTRE74K2PX20110521

(Reuters) - Some prominent Jewish Americans are rethinking their support for President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election bid after he effectively called on Israel to give back territory it has occupied since 1967 to Palestinians.

The backlash after Obama's keynote speech on the Middle East has Democratic Party operatives scrambling to mollify the Jewish community as the president prepares to seek a second term in the White House.

Obama on Thursday called for any new Palestinian state to respect the borders as they were in 1967, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tell him bluntly that his vision of how to achieve Middle East peace was unrealistic.

"He has in effect sought to reduce Israel's negotiation power and I condemn him for that," former New York Mayor Ed Koch told Reuters.

My earliest american ancestor came here from Ireland after his family was driven from Scotland because of their adherence to a religion other than the official one. That was in the early 1700s. I've never entertained any fantasies of an Irish/Catholic homeland and wouldn't want to live in one if it existed. I'm 67 years old and I've been hearing about the Israelis vs the Arabs since I was a little kid sitting in the saturday afternoon movie watching the Movietone newsreel and I'm sick and tired of hearing about it!!!

My president and I have more important things to worry about than the whining of religiously intolerant jews and arabs. They must learn tolerance and the art of compromise OR DIE. I just don't give a shit!

See article on link below

Obama’s call for Israeli/Palestinian borders to be "based on the 1967 lines" mirrors Bush, Clinton policy
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/19/obama-israel-1967

And I think his speech improved his chances for reelection.

Israel has negotiating power?

They left it too long. They should have negotiated before the US started showing vulnerability.

Israel/Palestine is so far down on my list of issues that it's nearly non-existant in importance. No one I know is talking about it at all.

They care deeply, and they vote.

He, and Likud, are not very popular with Jews over here.

I lived in Broward for almost 20 years, and I met plenty of Likud supporters. I also did meet many who thought Netanyahu was an idiot.

You don't need to call me "sir." I work for a living.

:)

Of course Koch would try to diminish Pres. Obama's chances for 2012. The idiot supported and voted for Bush TWICE.

Koch may have been a Democrat once upon a time, but that ended in 2000. Reuters might as well have quoted rightwing Netanyahu.