Democratic Party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz took charge of the Democratic National Committee in May. In 1992, at age 26, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the Florida House. In 2004, she became the first Jewish congress-woman elected from her state. She was the guest speaker at the May 26 Monitor breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Whether President Obama permanently damaged his standing with Israel's supporters by suggesting peace negotiations be based on Israel's 1967 borders with adjustments:

"To suggest that the president did significant damage to his support in the Jewish community is a gross overstatement."

Partisan elements in Middle East policy:

"We need to make sure that Israel never becomes a partisan issue.... Unfortunately, I think there are organizations that claim to be pro-Israel that are partisan first and pro-Israel second.... The way the Republican Jewish Coalition has conducted itself is they put their Republicanism in front of their pro-Israel stance."

Whether the US withdrawal from Afghanistan will be fast and deep enough to satisfy the left wing of the Democratic Party:

"I am not concerned at all.... If you asked constituents like mine if they would like to see us get out of Afghanistan, they would say yes.... So far, I have seen the voters being willing to give his [Mr. Obama's] plan an opportunity to work.... I don't see any indication that [the president] would draw a primary challenge over it."

The Republican Party's approach to women:

"Their third most important priority, by indication of it being HR3, was getting rid of ... Planned Parenthood funding [and] redefining rape so that you could not get access to an abortion paid with federal funds unless you were forcibly raped, so statutory rape did not count, date rape didn't count.... So if you look on balance at their entire record, their record is antiwoman. Their record is a war on women, and it is a priority for them."

Democratic support for the auto industry:

"You've got the Big Three automakers who are profitable for the first time since 2004 ... and the loans being paid back by Chrysler, by GM.... If it were up to the candidates running for president on the Republican side, we would be driving foreign cars. They would have let the automobile industry in America go down the tubes."

Made in America:

"We need to focus on making it in America again. And there are multiple meanings to that. [Possible GOP presidential candidates] Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman ... I am concerned about their commitment to American exceptionalism."

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