Obama Campaign to Combat Pro-Israel Groups

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent – the go-to reporter for the White House’s opinion on the White House’s relationship with Jewish voters – writes today the Obama campaign is planning to send out surrogates to go on the offensive against pro-Israel groups critical of the president’s Israel policy.

“We will have highly credible spokespeople and surrogates speak out in a general manner in support of what this administration has done, and articulate it in a way that we think will resonate with voters who care about this issue,” former Conference of Presidents leader Alan Solow told Sargent. “We will meet with supporters who have expressed concerns or want to be briefed on these issues on a one-on-one basis.”

Sargent reports the surrogates will include a star-studded cast of B-list Jewish Obama fundraisers, including Solow, former U.S. Reps. Mel Levine and Robert Wexler, and left-of-J-Street businesswoman Penny Pritzker.

It’s unclear whether this unremarkable line-up is a result of the White House simply being unaware of who the relevant figures are in the pro-Israel community, or whether the administration just wasn’t able to get any influential Israel supporters to join its efforts.

But the new strategy indicates that something – perhaps internal polling data or problems with key pro-Israel donors – is suddenly making the Obama campaign very concerned about losing Jewish supporters.