CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two platform planks, God and Israel, sparked division at the Democratic National Convention here Wednesday. Democrats, who typically are the first party to try and enforce secularism, sue schools and organizations for public prayer and who typically are less likely to support Israel as a State, found themselves in an embarrassing moment Wednesday after booing God off their platform and forced to put God back on after bad press. Who ever says the Democrats aren’t always politically expedient?
Things got so bad that President Barack Obama was forced to personally intervene, ordering language mentioning God and naming Jerusalem as the rightful capital of Israel be added.
While the campaign at first said Obama had seen the language prior to the convention in fear that it would hurt his campaign for reelection after learning about of the issue Wednesday morning in the press. Once that happened, against his own will the president commanded his staff to change the language to include a reference to God and Jerusalem as Israel’s capital because, the campaign source said, the amended version is “consistent with the president’s own positions.” which most people know is not true. Obama was forced to put God back on platform after public scrutiny and political backlash.
And even then, it had to be forced through a convention hall full of delegates who nearly shouted down the change.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the convention’s chairman, kicked off Wednesday’s proceedings by trying to clean up a mess Democrats made by omitting from their official party platform mentions of God and of Jerusalem as the preferred capital of Israel.
Villaraigosa called for a voice vote on an amendment offered by former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who chaired the platform drafting committee. Facing boos and nays, he tried again, before announcing that in his judgment, a two-thirds majority had approved the measure. He was booed again as he walked off the stage.
A senior White House said Wednesday that the platform dispute was an unfortunate stumble during this week’s convention.
Republicans mocked each subsequent mention of God from the podium as antithetical to the Democratic Party’s platform. GOP rival Mitt Romney released a statement blasting Democrats for leaving Jerusalem out of the platform.
