Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney gained more leverage to attack President Barack Obama on Israel after the Democratic convention made a hash out of its platform plank concerning the nation.
And the GOP challenger intends to take full advantage,
Politico reports.
The Democratic platform initially left out language backing a move to Jerusalem for the U.S. embassy in Israel. The decision to re-insert the clause drew widespread booing from convention delegates.
Key swing states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Nevada have substantial amounts of Jewish voters. The Romney campaign hopes the convention snafu can help attract these voters to the former Massachusetts governor.
The campaign has plans for mailers and fundraising requests to the heavily Jewish areas of South Florida, southeast Pennsylvania, greater Cleveland, and Clark County, Nev., a campaign aide told Politico.
Even Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., acknowledged that leaving the embassy issue out of the original platform was a mistake.
The brouhaha will make it more difficult for Obama to portray himself as a loyal friend of Israel, says Jamie Fly, executive director of the conservative Foreign Policy Institute. “It’s just a distraction and forces them to talk about parts of administration foreign policy that they did not want to highlight,” he told Politico.
Obama’s stance remains murky, says Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “I don’t think people were surprised when Democrats pulled the language out about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, considering it’s in line with President Obama’s position, even though he and his team refuse to say that,” she said.
“These questions are questions that President Obama and his team need to answer. Does he think, will he state unequivocally, whether or not he believes Jerusalem is the capital of Israel?”
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