What to say to Presidential Hopefuls?
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Mark J. Pelavin is the Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is one of the Jewish community's leading legislative strategists, and one of its senior lobbyists. |
This week our friends over at the Jewish Funds for Justice have launched an interesting new campaign – A Domestic Jewish Agenda for 2008 – asking the question “If you could talk to the presidential candidates, what would you tell them?” They have created something which is part poll, part petition, and part advocacy campaign. It invites you to rank the issues you think are most important. JFJ will then compile the results, and send them to the various presidential campaigns.
Part of what makes this effort particularly interesting is the dynamic that Jim Besser highlights in his excellent New York Jewish Week story on the project, “Edgy Effort To Redirect Jewish Political Debate.” JFJ’s partners in this effort include some organizations whose focus is on the younger, and often unaffiliated, segment of the Jewish community (like JDUB Records and Jewcy.com).