President Barack Obama himself intervened regarding the Jerusalem language, a senior Democratic source told CNN, adding, that he thought the original draft was "a strong statement and he didn't want there to be any confusion about his unshakeable commitment to the security of state israel.  The floor of the Democratic National Convention erupted Wednesday over a sudden move to restore to the platform a reference to "God" and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital -- after heavy criticism from Republicans for initially omitting them. The change came after both Mitt Romney and GOP running mate Paul Ryan criticized the omission. Read more: How the chaos went down 
 
 The 2008 platform read, "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths," she said. Quoting Democrat sources, Jessica Yellin, CNN's chief White House correspondent, reported on Twitter that when Obama was told "God" had been removed from the platform, he responded: "Why on earth was it changed?" Villaraigosa called the vote a total of three times to no certain result but eventually called it for the Ayes. "(That) this party purposely removed God from their platform suggests a party that is increasingly out of touch with the mainstream of the American people," Romney said. In an interview with Fox News, Romney said the omission signaled the "party is veering further and further away into an extreme wing that Americans don't recognize." The move on Jerusalem, a city claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians, puts the Democratic Party’s platform in direct opposition to longstanding U.S. policy on Jerusalem, which has been that all “final status issues” be left to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Republicans had criticized Democrats over the changes, and after the vote, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea saul said that the GOP presidential candidate "has consistently stated his belief that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. In his convention speech Tuesday evening, Wexler said that "President Obama has bravely stood up for Israel In the international community." "Now is the time for President Obama to state in unequivocal terms whether or not he believes Jerusalem is Israel's capital." The White House wouldn't say whether the change in the Democratic platform language reflected a change in administration policy. "It has been the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations for decades that Jerusalem is a final status issue to be negotiated directly between the two parties, as part of discussions to achieve a two-state solution that secures the Jewish state and homeland. Following the decision, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, head of the platform committee, downplayed the turnaround. That language was reinserted on Wednesday but was not included in the 2012 platform, which was released earlier this week and adopted by the party at the convention on Tuesday. In the interview with Fox News, he claimed Democrats at the convention were ignoring the question he posed at the Republican convention last week in Tampa: Are Americans better off today than they were four years ago? Fox News' Carl Cameron, Ed Henry and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– The Democrats' platform will include references to God and to Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, after all. Republicans, including Mitt Romney himself, had seized on the absence of both in the platform that got adopted yesterday. This afternoon, the party added both in a floor voice vote at the convention, though it took three tries, and even then many in the audience seemed skeptical that the two-thirds threshold of "ayes" had been reached. (The Guardian says the convention was "plunged into chaos" at the move.) Most wire services cite sources who say President Obama himself ordered that the references be reinserted. (AP, Fox News, CNN, and Politico agree on that.) "Why on earth would that have been taken out?" Obama reportedly said, referring to the removal of a reference to God. The restored version reads: "We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential." The Jerusalem reference now reads that "it is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths."