NJDC at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

We’ve just returned home from last week’s Democratic National Convention and wanted to let you know about all of NJDC’s wonderful activities.

NJDC had the distinct honor of awarding Democratic National Committee Chair Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) the NJDC’s inaugural Debbie Wasserman Schultz Award for Political Leadership. The event was co-hosted by The Creative Coalition, the entertainment industry’s nonprofit advocacy organization. Key Democratic leaders, members of Congress, and Creative Coalition members led by the organization’s President and CEO, actor Tim Daly and Robin Bronk—were on hand to listen to inspiring remarks from Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett and Florida’s senior Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL). Other notable guests spotted at the event included Representative John Lewis (D-GA), Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), actors and Creative Coalition members John Leguizamo, Wayne Knight, Tony Shalhoub, and many, many others. (Click here to view a larger version of the image featuring Creative Coalition members and NJDC leaders.)

NJDC also hosted an informative panel discussion on the Jewish vote that featured NJDC Honorary Co-Chair Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair and NJDC Executive Committee member Martin Frost, NJDC President and CEO David A. Harris, and top pollster Anna Greenberg.

During the week, NJDC’s activities were based out of our mobile headquarters—a 40-foot RV that impressed and attracted just about everyone who passed by.

Our staff members and volunteers handed out fact sheets regarding the President, along with bagels and NJDC souvenirs to the thousands of people who came by—many of whom took their picture in front of the giant picture of President Barack Obama on the side of the RV. Members of Congress including Representative Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Representative Jan Schakowky (D-IL) recorded YouTube videos from the RV in which they explained their support for the President this November. Engel and Cardin also recorded videos on the sidelines of our events. You can view all of our convention videos here.

Hopefully you had a chance to view President Barack Obama’s speech at the convention. The President’s spoke powerfully about his domestic record as well as his foreign policies. He emphasized—to powerful applause throughout the arena—that “Our commitment to Israel’s security must not waver, and neither must our pursuit of peace,” and that “The Iranian government must face a world that stays united against its nuclear ambitions.”

Senator John Kerry (D-MA)—who is receiving buzz as a potential Secretary of State pick—pushed back against Mitt Romney’s lies and smears of the President’s Israel record and said:

Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel to tighten sanctions on Iran—and take nothing off the table. ... Prime Minister Netanyahu set the record straight—he said, our two countries have ‘exactly the same policy…’—‘our security cooperation is unprecedented…’ When it comes to Israel, I’ll take the word of Israel’s prime minister over Mitt Romney any day.

Former Representative Robert Wexler (D-FL) also gave a ringing and well-received defense of the President’s Israel record on the convention’s first night. Click here or on the video box to watch Wexler’s speech.

You may have heard about the 2012 Democratic Party platform, and about the President’s leadership to ensure that Jerusalem is included in our platform as Israel’s capital. The New York Times laid out the facts here while BuzzFeed noted the Republicans’ own platform hypocrisy. The fact is, the 2012 Democratic Party platform is the strongest pro-Israel document ever issued by an American political party—it supports the President’s unprecedented levels of security cooperation with Israel, calls on all Palestinian factions to renounce violence in order to pursue peace, and makes it clear that all options, including force, are on the table in order to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran—something on which the GOP platform remains silent.

The President and the Democratic Party have Israel’s back—and have our backs as American Jews. If this year’s political convention season proved one thing, it proved that the Democratic Party remains the natural political home for the sweeping majority of American Jews.