In a Sunday, May 18th NY Times op-ed article that seem to be specifically written to Jewish Americans, Thomas Friedman wrote that "America today has — rightly — a bipartisan approach to Arab-Israeli peace that is not going to change no matter who becomes our next president." The article tries to counter an ongoing smear campaign against Obama that he secretly harbors anti-Israeli agenda.
I don't believe in conspiracy theories and secret agendas so I discard such claims quite easily. Top that with Friedman's convincing explanation on how American Presidents and American Jews first priority is and should be America, and the questions and doubts are easily put to rest. But there is an angle to the question of a President that is "good for Israel" that is not fully addressed by Thomas Friedman.
That question is "what is good for Israel". Since Israelis themselves have yet to come with a good political answer to that question, American Jews don't have a clear criteria to judge what is good for Israel, let alone who is good for Israel.
The Israeli Knesset is divided among what they call "right" and "left" parties with the leadership floating from one group to the other every few years. These right and left groups have diametrically opposed positions and freely accuse each other policies as "endangering" the country. When Israelis are unable to determine what is good for Israel, how could American Jews know what is good for Israel? The simple answer is that they don't. The few American Jews who follow Israeli politics closely follow suit and choose one of the diametrically opposed views. The silent majority of American Jews are satisfied with the general statement that politicians are eager to express - that they support Israel, whatever that means.
In truth, all candidates freely offer the general supportive statements because these are well within the interests of America. The survival of the Jewish state in a sea of hostile neighborhood is a staple of American policy regardless of party affiliation or specific President. Moreover, Presidents do not work in a vacuum - Congress is a major player in the support of Israel, again, whatever that may mean.
The vagueness of what is good for Israel is fertile ground for conspiracy theories. While I am not sure what is good for Israel, I do know that the spread of these theories is not good for American Jews. These conspiracy theories are of the very same type that historically turned against the Jews. Furthermore, they force candidates to overly repeat unnecessary statements in support of Israel and in doing so perpetuate a false perception that support of Israel is an interest of a small group rather than the general interest of the United States. That, can't possibly be good for Israel.