All this helps to explain the emotional significance of Clinton's four-day trip to Jerusalem, Gaza, Bethlehem, and Masada late this week, during Hanuka and the Christmas season. Clinton is not expected to unveil any new initiatives. But his advisers hope the trip will reinvigorate the peace process and burnish the president's credentials as a peacemaker and healer. Yet the purely political aspects of the trip can't be ignored. Clinton will use the trip, as so many other U.S. politicians have done, to strengthen his bonds and those of his party with Jewish voters back home.
Few groups are as crucial to American electoral success.
American Jews have long been important not only as contributors and activists but as a voting bloc that consistently turns out on Election Day, mostly to support Democratic candidates and causes. Even though Jews represent about 3 percent of the U.S. population, their support can be pivotal in many states. So it's no surprise that Clinton wants to demonstrate anew this week that he remains sensitive to Jewish concerns. A senior White House official points out that the president isn't alone in his assessment. The latest White House hopeful to make the journey was Texas Gov. George W. Bush.