by Yosef Abrahamson

The author with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

On Thursday night the 2012 Republican National Convention came to an end, as did my second experience as a page, and wow, what a time!

Jews & Politics: GOP Convention Update (Part 4)

by Yosef Abrahamson

The author with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

On Thursday night the 2012 Republican National Convention came to an end, as did my second experience as a page, and wow, what a time!

Although there were some hiccups along the way, I can honestly say this was once again the experience of a lifetime, and I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed working with all these great young men and women from around the country. I also have to thank my group leader Deb, along with all the other group leaders who worked so hard to make the convention a fun and eventful time for all of us.

My final night as a page started out with me and my mother, sister and baby niece giving an interview with Fox News and taking a family picture next to where our Nebraska delegation sat. Shortly after that I went to rejoin my teammates and got to take a picture with John Voight; I then got an up-close look at Congressmen Paul Ryan as he was led to the newsroom waving and smiling.

After a final briefing for the evening we where led to the floor for the last time to help distribute signs to the many delegations, and it was the busiest night yet, as we did over a dozen sign drops with a variety of signs saying “Mitt!” “Veterans for Mitt” and “Turn-Around Time.”

After one such sign drop I went backstage and got a little lost walking around in the backroom area. Despite the large amount of access we pages are given I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to be in that area. As I wandered around trying to look inconspicuous to the secret service agents and find my way back to the floor, I ended up being in exactly the right area – as former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani was strolling right by and graciously took a photo with me! After the first one turned out badly I apologetically asked for another one; he readily took a new one and shared some words of wisdom: “Anything that’s worth doing is worth doing right.”

After my meeting with the former Mayor I found my way back to the floor and continued with the sign drops. A big problem the previous day was that I and most of the other pages had been kicked off the floor to avoid crowding, and because of it we had missed many of the speeches. Tonight we had all agreed together as a group that we would not let that happen. We had all paid our own ways and had worked our hardest every day and night. We had earned the right to be on the floor. So many of us went to our delegations, who graciously seated some, while others like myself stayed in the back, sneaking out every time a major speech happened.

Speaking of which – the speeches were just captivating. From the founder of Staples Thomas Steimberg, who gave a great speech about having successfully built a business, to the surprise guest the legendary actor Clint Eastwood, who had many comical and memorable words before breaking out his famous line “Go ahead, make my day,” and then Senator Marco Rubio, who shared some personal stories about where he came from and the opportunities he was granted, before introducing our presidential nominee – Mitt Romney.

Governor Romney, in a first for any national Convention, walked through the crowd shaking hands on the way before getting up on stage and accepting the nomination. Governor Romney discussed his life growing up and how he had set out on his own at a young age to start his own business, and his successes in that world helping rebuild several businesses in the process, before laying out some of the many major spending and social missteps that have become synonymies with the Obama Administration and giving his outline for a future that included reducing federal spending and creating millions of jobs. He also stressed how the current administration had abandoned Israel and how he would work to protect it.

By the end of the speech the crowd was going crazy with applause and cheering as the balloons and confetti fell, and Paul Ryan and the two candidates’ families stood on stage in the convention’s defining moment.

At that moment I had no doubt this was the direction in which America needed to go. That Mitt Romney could be a president that could pull us out of the mentality that you should be ashamed of the success you achieved in life, and that he had the tools to fix a country that is in serious danger of falling into the gutter. I fully believe Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, if elected, will save our country and lead it into a future that has been long overdue. A successful, rich country where a twenty-something like myself isn’t already worried about the weight of the debt my grandchildren will still be suffering under, and where morals and values are once again at the forefront.

All and all this week has once again been a great experience, and I was proud to represent the Chabad community and the great state of Nebraska as a page. This has been an historic experience, and I was pleased to see that after my sister paged in 2004 and I in 2008, that now in 2012 I was joined by some other Jewish pages. I invited them all to come and visit Crown Heights for a Shabbos sometime.

It is my deepest hope that four years from now there will be even more observant Jewish young adults in the page program, as we gather to re-nominate President Mitt Romney!

The author’s sister and niece with Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.
The author with his mother, Nebraska Republican delegate Mrs. Dina Abrahamson, along with his sister and niece.
The author with Holywood actor John Voight.

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