Steve Israel during speech of Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. (Photo credit: YouTube)
One day after First Lady Michelle Obama rocked her husband’s caucus with a speech that seemed to re-energize their Democratic base, a host of other politicians, activists and business owners were tasked with the tough assignment of handing the baton over to former President Bill Clinton, Wednesday’s anchor for the party at the Democratic National Convention.
Among the first elected officials to simmer up the partisan crowd in North Carolina was Long Island congressman Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills), who began his brief speech by passing along a story from an Arizona man whose father bought a war bond on the Island of Guam on June 30, 1945 and “placed his bet on America.”
Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, used that story as a bookend for his speech, which also included jabs at Obama’s Republican challenger Mitt Romney and Mitt’s runningmate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
“It was a bet on America’s future and we won,” Israel said. “Now its important to America’s future that we win again.”
Israel took the stage just after 6 p.m., well before networks jump into coverage for the convention. Only political junkies, C-SPAN viewers or big YouTube users probably saw the congressman talk live. (And reporters, too.)
Israel continued the trend from Tuesday night by trying to convince undecided voters that Democrats are the better alternative for middle class Americans.
He cited the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that gave equal pay to women, the Zadroga Act, which expanded health care to first responders at Ground Zero and health care reform.
“No parent has to worry that their children won’t have health care because of a preexisting condition,” Israel told the crowd.
He said those are “the values I grew up with on Long Island.”
Israel also tried to make the case for giving Democrats another shot at controlling Congress.
“They have had two years to put the middle class first, time is up,” he said of Republican leaders in the House of Representatives. “Folks, we’re not going to convince them, we’re gonna have to replace them.”
In response, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee released a statement saying Democrats are using “false attacks” to distract voters from their record “that has added $5 trillion to the national debt and seen unemployment at over eight percent for over 42 months straight.”
“Nothing the Democrats can say will change the fact that voters know they are not better off after four long years of failed policies and leadership,” said RNC spokesman Ted Kwong.
