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MATTHEW E. BERGER
When is a Hanukkah party more than just a Hanukkah party? When it is hosted by the White House, and viewed as emblematic of the Obama administration's relationship with American Jews.
The White House cut the size of the Dec. 16 party to about 500 people, a sharp decline from the 800 or so guests who reportedly came during the last years of the Bush administration. Observers have cited the high cost of kosher catering--which the Bush family implemented in 2005--as well as the desire to tone down all holiday festivities because of the country's economic troubles.
But the downsized party has been taken by some as a further sign of the Obama administration's inability to connect with American Jews. While Obama garnered 78 percent of the American Jewish vote last year, he has faced scrutiny from some Jewish leaders who say he is placing too much pressure on Israel, and not doing enough to court the traditionally active Democratic constituency.
Tevi Troy, Bush's Jewish liaison, who helped plan the White House Hanukkah party, connected those dots last month in a column for JTA, the wire service for Jewish newspapers. Shrinking the Hanukkah party was akin to pressuring the Israeli government over settlements or giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson, who led the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, which was boycotted by the United States because of anti-Israel bias, Troy argued.
"For these reasons, while the size of the party may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, even some of Obama's supporters may see it in the context of this longer train of politically tone-deaf decisions," Troy wrote.
The column has drawn sharp rebukes from Jewish Democrats, who say Troy, now a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute, is using the Hanukkah party to take a cheap shot at Obama.
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