For this woman and former Democrat, who had believed Obama would be a fabulous president, it was Obamacare that started her political change experience.

Does the following sound familiar?:

Changing your political beliefs is not easy. It’s especially difficult when you’ve invested years of your life believing that your side consists of the Good Guys. If your side is the Good Guys, then the other side must be the Bad Guys. And if the Bad Guys turn out to have been right about something important, you have a problem.

You can either reconsider your beliefs or construct an elaborate series of excuses explaining why reality is being unfair.

She made excuses to herself for a while. But eventually she had trouble doing that:

… I had to admit something. I had been wrong.

I had been wrong about enough important things that I could no longer pretend otherwise, and I changed my political allegiance. I could no longer pretend.

That was about eleven years ago. You might think this would be the end of the story.

HA HA HA.

No. Because the Democratic Party had decided that the Obama years were merely the warm-up act.

Well, yes. Then again, a great many Democrats seem to be able to either continue to make excuses for the party, or to embrace the changes.

And speaking of political changers, here’s a poll that might reflect something real (although as I’ve said many times, polls have gotten iffier and iffier):

Republicans lead Democrats by 31 points among Jewish voters on the congressional ballot, according to a McLaughlin & Associates poll that points to a potential shift among a group that has long favored Democrats.

The poll found that 64 percent of Jewish voters backed Republicans for Congress, while 33 percent supported Democrats, pollsters John and Jim McLaughlin wrote in an article published by the firm Monday.

The result would mark a major shift from the large margins by which Jewish voters have traditionally favored Democrats, though pollsters John and Jim McLaughlin warned that the sample of Jewish voters was small.

Of course, as I’ve written many times, the definition of “Jewish” in the case of US voters is not a religious one, it’s an ethnic one. The more religious a Jew is, the more likely to vote for conservatives. Or, as CBD at Ace’s wrote today:

When a Christian rejects his religion, does not follow its precepts, is openly antagonistic to those who follow Christ, we call him an atheist. When so-called Jews reject their religion, do not follow its precepts, are openly antagonistic to those who follow the Torah, we call them…Jews? Why? Because they have Jewish names and eat bagels and lox on Sunday mornings? I eat fish most Fridays…does that mean I am Catholic?

Well, being Jewish is different from adhering to Judaism, because Jews are also a people. I’ve written about this and related topics before, for example here.