Bill Clinton Warns of Trump, Urges Florida Jews to Get Out and Vote
Image by Getty Images
No one knows tikkun olam, or “repairing the world” like Bubba, right?
Former President Bill Clinton invoked that spirit — and something much more scary — to urge Florida Jews to stick to their Democratic Party roots and vote en masse for Hillary Clinton.
He connected Hillary Clinton’s call for a more inclusive country, embodied in the slogan “Stronger Together,” to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam.
“America is now the longest-lasting free democracy in human history, and it’s because we were given this mission by the founders to form a more perfect union, which is an eternal mission. Our job is to do better,” he said. “This is about tikkun olam… We have bridges in our country. We have to repair them.”
Bill Clinton also attacked Republican candidate Donald Trump as a “threat” to American democracy — and Jews in particular.
“If there is any group of people in this country that should understand the threat to the fundamental character of the nation and the future of our children and grandchildren posed by the choice in this election, it should be members of the Jewish community,” Bill Clinton told a crowd at a synagogue in southern Florida.
Bill Clinton has cultivated strong ties with the Jewish community, in and out of office. He was a good friend of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, delivering an emotional farewell at the leader’s funeral. The biggest donor to the Clinton Foundation is Ukrainian Jew Victor Pinchuk. His daughter Chelsea even married a Jewish man, Marc Mezvinsky. The couple’s wedding was officiated by a minister and rabbi.
Florida – and its sizable Jewish population – is also key to the electoral fortunes of Hillary Clinton. While she leads there and in the national contest, she and Democrats remain painfully aware of the 2000 Bush-Gore race.
This month, the popular vote winner and his vice presidential nominee, former Senator Joe Lieberman, stumped for Clinton in the Sunshine State, warning voters about the perils of staying home in a tight election.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
