President Obama would have to be “pretty blind” not to view the stunning Republican victory in Anthony Weiner’s old congressional district as a wake-up call that the Jewish vote is up for grabs in next year’s election, former Mayor Ed Koch said yesterday.
“Now the president knows he cannot take the Jewish vote for granted,” said Koch, savoring his role in propelling Republican businessman Bob Turner into Congress over Democratic veteran David Weprin, an assemblyman and former city councilman.
The unofficial results showed that about 18 percent of the 343,373 registered voters in the Brooklyn-Queens 9th Congressional District turned up at the polls.
In 2010, when Weiner won his last re-election, about 30 percent of registered voters came out.
Turner’s campaign caught fire after Koch endorsed him to send what he described as a message to the White House over its treatment of Israel.
Asked if he thought the president got the message, Koch responded: “You’d have to be pretty blind not to.”
Koch said he was upset that Obama called on Israel to negotiate a return to its pre-1967 borders without also demanding that Palestinian leaders renounce terrorism and recognize Israel if the peace talks succeeded.