The dictatorship at the DNC?

Over at Bloomberg.com John Heilemann has an excellent piece on the current infighting within the Democratic National Committee, much of which centers around DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Of two dozen Democratic insiders with whom I spoke this week, including several DNC vice chairs, not one defended Wasserman Schultz’s treatment of Gabbard. Most called it ridiculous, outrageous, or worse. Many argued, further, that the debate plan enacted by the chairwoman is badly flawed—an assessment shared by many party activists, left-bent supporters of Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, and those candidates themselves, all of whom see it as a naked effort to aid and comfort Hillary Clinton. And they maintained that the plan was a clear reflection of Wasserman Schultz’s management style, which many of them see as endangering Democratic prospects in 2016 and beyond.

One top Democrat who feels precisely this way is DNC Vice Chair R.T. Rybak, a former mayor of Minneapolis who, along with Gabbard, has publicly called for more debates. But Rybak’s indictment of Wasserman Schultz is more sweeping—and pointed—than that. “In the days before and after the debate I kept my mouth shut,” Rybak told me by phone on Thursday. “But I’ve begun to deeply question whether she has the leadership skills to get us through the election. This is not just about how many debates we have. This is one of a series of long-running events in which the chair has not shown the political judgment that is needed.”

I asked Rybak if he was calling for Wasserman Schultz to resign.

“I’m coming really close,” he replied. “I’m not quite doing that yet, but unless I see some significant shift in the way she’s going to operate and see that she has some ability to reach out and include people who disagree with her, then I seriously question whether she’s the right person to lead us.”
Rybak and other Democratic critics of Wasserman Schultz have been holding their tongues about what they see as her deficiencies for years. But the dispute over debates has proven sufficiently contentious that it is suddenly causing those tongues to loosen.

Share:

Related Articles

4 thoughts on “The dictatorship at the DNC?

  1. Rybak might not be demanding DWS to get out, but I sure, and I sent back an otherwise-blank envelope to the DNC saying as much.

    If Hillary was smart, she’d also tell her girl Debbie to step down, because Clinton will otherwise be hurt in the primary from voters who want to send a message to these corporatist insiders who continue to think they know more than the average Dem, despite losing elections year after year.

    Having that debate helped Democrats, and changed the frame of issues for some voters. How would you not want more of that if your job is to get Dems to win elections?

    1. Luvs you Jake on this idea and for that matter, most of what you have to say from day to day. Thanks for your insights and comprehension of sometimes complicated facts and the gifted way you put them into layperson language.

      DWS is an asset who has yet to mature. On one hand I question her motivations and on the other hand, I hope she gets past the onus of the responsibilities of her position and gets back to trusting her own common sense and intuitions as to the right thing to do.

    1. I read that….it’s an excellent article. Democrats really are in deep doo-doo if they can’t figure out how to start winning back state and local elections.

Comments are closed.