Buzzfeed: “Good” Jews, “Bad” Jews, And Bernie Sanders
By Miriam Elder
Talk to people who have been in politics for a while, and they will say the fact that two Jewish Americans are running for the Democratic nomination, one of them the clear frontrunner, is a sign of the country’s diversity and acceptance of Jews.
“The barriers that previously existed appear to be no longer really a part of our political reality, and that is something for Jews to celebrate,” said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. The fact that Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg are Jewish “has become less of an issue,” said David Greenfield, the head of the Met Council, a Jewish charity, and the former deputy finance chair for Joe Lieberman’s campaign in 2004. That their Judaism isn’t the first thing most people think of, versus their position on the issues, is a “sign of the maturation of the political process in the United States,” he said.