That is the message of Democrats who blame the current
administration and the Republican-led House and Senate for the high cost of gas
and groceries. It is a winning message. Abdul El-Sayed comes across as sincere
and sympathetic - a doctor who cares about people and wants to improve their
lives through progressive legislation. (Taxing the rich is always a winning
slogan for a struggling middle class. Sticking it to the billionaire class
surely resonates with people who can barely make ends meet these days.)
When his opponent, Mike Rogers, keeps trying to link Abdul
El-Sayed to Islamist terror groups, El-Sayed responds with a full-throated
denial, accusing Rogers of fearmongering. He delivers clever comebacks like,
“My Muslim name is not what has caused inflation”.
He is younger and more energetic than Rogers. The bottom
line is that things aren’t looking good for Rogers, who, as a Republican, is
seen by voters as part of the problem rather than the solution.
But then there is the foreign policy issue, which is
important to Jewish voters, at least those of us that traditionally support
Israel. Abdul El-Sayed may be “Mr. Nice Guy” in every other respect, but when
it comes to Israel, he thoroughly vilifies it. And while he claims to have no
connections to Islamist terrorist groups one cannot discount the influence on
him of the person who raised him.
According to a report published by The
Washington Post, El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, posted on
social media in 2012 that their mother had been active in the Muslim
Brotherhood while attending college in Egypt in the early 1970s.
The thing is, Israel is not very high on the list of issues
that matter to voters right now…
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