While hundreds of Jews in Baltimore City registered as Democrats to vote for Yitzy Schleifer, for those who are still Republican, the vote for President is a no brainer. I am usually quiet about my personal preferences, but because we have such a critical race this year, as someone who spent most of my life in Baltimore and has worked in Maryland politics for 25 years, I am publicly urging our community to vote for Ohio Governor John Kasich.
There are many factors that should be considered by the Jewish community when voting for the highest office in the country, including a candidate’s support for Israel, economic policies, governing experience, and electability. And hands down, in all these areas Kasich is the best candidate.
Who? Exactly. So many do not know much about him because he has not have gotten the free media attention other Republican candidates received. But his experience and record are very strong, and his behavior has been dignified in a manner we deserve from the leader of the free world.
When it comes to foreign affairs, Kasich is not only a great supporter of Israel but having served on the House Armed Services Committee for 18 years in Congress, he has the national security expertise needed to guide our nation during these uncertain times. And he knows that we need to strengthen our military to be prepared; he has proposed to boost military spending by over $100 billion to ensure we have a strong Navy and the national security infrastructure to keep us safe.
When it comes to economic security, Kasich knows what it takes to create jobs. Under his leadership, over 400,000 private sector jobs have been created in Ohio. While other Republican candidates do not have the executive experience, he does. After inheriting an $8 billion budget deficit, he turned it into a $2 billion surplus while still cutting taxes by $5 billion. And he demonstrated his fiscal leadership in Congress too, where he helped balance our nation’s budget for the first time since man walked on the moon. No one has balanced our budget since.
It took him 10 years of working hard to balance the federal budget. He understands how Washington works and that things cannot happen overnight. He understands that Republicans and Democrats have to work together, and that the President has to be able to work with Congress to get things done. That’s why he’s not all over the news demagogically saying what you want to hear and making promises he can’t keep just to win votes. He knows the president isn’t a dictator, making all decisions alone.
To be honest, I don’t always agree with everything he does. But I know that as Governor of Ohio, he had to govern on a day-to-day basis, experience which Cruz and Trump do not have. That meant Kasich had to make some tough decisions for his constituents; decisions I may not always have liked on a policy level but which were practical and appropriate for the people he served.
None of us will ever agree 100% with any candidate. So we should not only stand behind someone who shares the same key priorities and views with us, but who actually can get elected in November. Poll after poll shows that unlike Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, Kasich is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton. The path to that victory is the Republican convention; without getting into the nuances of how it works, Kasich can win in a brokered convention. His team has been working for months planning and preparing for that, and a strategy is in place.
This has been an unusual and somewhat disappointing presidential election so far. The worst of America has shown its colors. Some presidential candidates vying to be world leaders have demonstrated their infantile and inappropriate behaviors in the international spotlight. But Kasich has kept to the high road.
While I strongly believe in supporting a candidate I do like, we must also consider why Trump and Cruz should not be our choices.
Donald Trump frightens me. His followers are like cult members, blindly hanging on to every word and supporting someone who exhibits a psychological control over them. For those of us still with our rational senses, we know he is unpredictable (not in a good way), vacillates on everything, and feels no allegiance to anything but himself and his lust for power. He has no experience in politics and his ability to work with Congress will likely be worse than President Obama’s, which means even less will get done under a Trump presidency.
But Ted Cruz is also frightening. He is despised by many of his colleagues in Congress so it is hard to imagine he will have a good working relationship with them if elected President. He puts his personal philosophy above practicality, and is too far to the right to win crossover Democrat and Independent votes needed to beat Hillary in November. And in recent weeks, I was astonished that Cruz supporters from Baltimore County were knocking on the doors of Jewish homes in Baltimore City, urging people to register Republican to vote for Cruz at a time when the broader Jewish community was uniting behind Yitzy Schleifer.
In 1992, I was criticized by local Jews for working in Republican politics because of the fear people had towards Pat Buchanan; he was never a real threat which is why, frankly, Cruz and Trump (and their followers) frighten me more.
Kasich may not be suave. He may not have the personality of a cult leader or a media superstar. He comes across as simple and folksy to many, despite being extremely smart and having proven experience at maneuvering through politics-as-usual and actually getting things done in Washington. He has earned my respect, and he has earned my vote. And I hope the Jewish community will step up for him too.
When casting your vote for President, you also have the options to cast your vote for Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the Republican Convention. Please join me in supporting the following candidates: Delegate to the Republican convention: Herb McMillan, Laura Neuman and Duane Shelton; Alternates to the Republican convention: Chevy Weiss and EJ Cavanagh.
