David A. Harris serves as the President of the National Jewish Democratic Council. David previously worked as NJDC's Deputy Executive Director for seven years, and as the Executive Director of the Israel on Campus Coalition for three years. David has also served as the Director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the American Jewish Congress and as the Washington Representative for the Israel Policy Forum; in Democratic politics, David was a congressional fellow for the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) and a congressional campaign manager as well. David is a native of West Lafayette, Indiana, and now lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Megan.

Blog Entries by David A. Harris

Look Who's Coming To Dinner

Posted September 1, 2009 | 06:31 PM (EST)


Wait - Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, is coming to the Ramadan dinner hosted tonight by President Barack Obama?

After reading this in Talking Points Memo, I paused to make sure I read it right.

There's nothing surprising about the now-annual tradition of a White...

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Are Obama-Hitler Comparisons Okay?

88 Comments | Posted August 6, 2009 | 04:03 PM (EST)


Are Nazi and Hitler comparisons -- and invoking Holocaust imagery -- ever acceptable in political discourse? Of course I think the answer is no, period. And we've always made clear that such comparisons are not okay for anyone, on either side of the aisle.

But these days the G.O.P. base...

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Comical Posturing on Israel

16 Comments | Posted August 2, 2009 | 11:29 PM (EST)


We've seen a growing chorus of voices recently questioning the direction of American foreign policy when it comes to Israel. A number of these voices -- including some recent editorials -- appear disconnected from the facts; they seem to ignore President Obama's commitment in word and deed to our strong...

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Rep. Cantor: An Exclusivist Caucus of One

7 Comments | Posted July 23, 2009 | 06:05 PM (EST)


Being a Jewish Republican in Congress is a singular experience -- literally. With Senator Arlen Specter's (D-PA) move to the Democratic Party and the general GOP "let's narrow our base wherever possible" philosophy, it's no surprise that Republicans are faring so poorly, and that Jewish Republicans are faring even worse....

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Listening for the Truth about Iran

4 Comments | Posted July 17, 2009 | 09:27 AM (EST)


As I noted earlier, there's been much discussion among some American Jews about whether President Barack Obama "gets" our community. Monday's widely-applauded White House meeting with top American Jewish community leaders helped shut down this discussion once and for all. One of the most oft-cited concerns of...

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Does President Obama "Get" Jews?

84 Comments | Posted July 16, 2009 | 03:40 PM (EST)


Those who closely follow the intersection of Jewish and Democratic politics know that there's been a good bit of noise -- though perhaps not much light -- surrounding whether President Barack Obama "gets" the American Jewish community. Indeed, Obama has not pleased every American Jew, much the same...

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