This is the Forward’s coverage of former U.S. president Barack Obama and his relationship to the Jewish community.
Barack Obama
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News Ed Koch Still Wants To Matter
It was primary night, and Ed Koch was eating mussels. The 87-year-old former mayor had a corner table at an Italian restaurant on the West Side of Manhattan. At his elbow was John LoCicero, his political advisor since the 1960s. LoCicero was eating mussels, too. Primary polls were still open for another hour, but LoCicero,…
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Opinion The Real Problem With Student Debt
I was greeted the other day by the charmingly nasal voice of President Barack Obama crackling through my telephone — calling to talk with me (and, surely, an undisclosed number of others) about the importance of keeping student loan interest rates low. This White House Update Call — planned for student activists working alongside the…
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News What About Spiralling Health Costs?
The decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of nearly all of President Barack Obama?s health reform plan is very good news for those tens of millions of Americans who due to poverty or preexisting illnesses had no access to health insurance. The court decision is purely a legal one ? pronouncing the…
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News Jewish Groups Praise Court’s Health Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold President Obama?s landmark Affordable Care Act in a 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts voting in the majority. The Court upheld the most controversial provision of the law that required all American citizens to purchase health insurance or face a tax penalty. The court struck a provision…
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Israel News Israel’s Health Care Outpaces U.S.
The heated debate over health care reform, reignited by the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Barack Obama’s plan, has drawn attention, once again, to the issue of government involvement in health care management and the effectiveness of a system based on universal coverage. For Israel, this is a Rubicon crossed long ago. Despite the…
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Opinion Obama Drops In on Mofaz
President Obama seems to be perfecting the art of drop-in diplomacy, at least when it comes to Jewish and Israeli leaders. Obama, in recent weeks, took the liberty of dropping into the meetings White House officials held with Jewish Conservative and Orthodox leaders. Then last Thursday he popped into a meeting National Security Adviser Tom…
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Fast Forward Divided Court Backs Campaign Financing Law
A divided Supreme Court upheld its decision in the Citizens United case that allows unlimited donations to political super-PACs, setting the stage for a dramatic partisan race for cash in the fall election. By a 5-4 margin, the court’s conservative majority struck down a state law that would have chipped away at its 2010 decision…
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Opinion Exploiting Jewish Fear on Iran
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav famously said that the main thing is never to be at all afraid. The revered rabbi was wrong. It is madness never to be afraid at all. We need to know whether to hide from the wolves, to slay them, or in some other way defend against them. That said, it…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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Fast Forward London’s Metropolitan Police launches new 100-officer unit to protect Jewish communities
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Fast Forward ADL says antisemitic incidents dropped by a third in 2025, but assaults reached record levels
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Fast Forward A best-selling novelist identified a minor character as Israeli. Some fans are canceling their orders.