Obama mentor: Barack has a 'yiddishe nishama'

When Abner Mikva entered the lobby of his lakeside apartment building to vote on Tuesday morning, he wasn't surprised by the long voting line stretching down the hallway.
In the 2004 elections, there was no line at all.

"People are excited," Mikva told The Jerusalem Post as he stood in line to vote. "This election has people more involved."

Mikva knows a thing or two about elections. At 82, he is an elder statesman in his Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Sen. Barack Obama lives just up the street.
Regarding concern in Israel about an Obama presidency, Mikva said that "Barack will be the first Jewish president in the US."

"He has a yiddeshe nishama," Mikva said. "He is committed to Israel and its security concerns and understands that democratization does not happen by force but by example, and there is no better example in the Middle East than Israel." LINK or www.jpost.com