At the DNC's annual meeting in Minneapolis, party delegates passed resolutions calling for a $15 minimum wage and expressing support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. (How the party's actions will translate into the actions of policymakers remains to be seen.) However, one resolution did not make it to a vote.
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz prevented consideration of a resolution at the party’s summer meeting here that praised President Obama and offered backing for the nuclear agreement with Iran, according to knowledgeable Democrats.
The resolution was drafted with the intention of putting the national committee on record in support of the agreement as Congress prepares to take up the issue when members return from their August recess.Debbie Wasserman Schultz remains formally "undecided" on the Iran Deal, although I wouldn't be shocked if she voted against it based on past statements.
Rather than standing with the president when he is right and breaking with him when he is wrong, Debbie Wasserman Schultz--a noted supporter of fast-track for the disastrous, corporate-friendly trade deals the president wants and an opponent of easing travel restrictions to Cuba--does the opposite.
However, it's not just her voting record that makes Debbie Wasserman Schulz a bad chairwoman of the DNC. There's also her record of failure at the DNC's main goal: electing Democrats.
She has been chairwoman of the DNC since May of 2011. Since then, the Democrats saw one of their most disastrous elections ever, an even worse rout than that of 2010. The Democrats hold few state legislatures or governorships and hold neither house of Congress. In 2012, Democrats failed to translate the president's electoral fortune into a strong down-ballot effect. This was, in part, due to Republican gerrymandering after the 2010 census, but it was also the result of selecting bad candidates or, in some cases, not even fielding them.
Moreover, Debbie Wasserman Schultz already has a job: representing the voters of Florida's 23rd district. Being chair of a national party should be a full-time position because party building is hard work--if it's done right.
Wasserman Schultz has been chairwoman of the DNC for 4 years and almost 4 months, longer than any other DNC chair since 1968. Most past chairs served 1, 2, maybe 3 years. It's well past time for Democrats to choose a new party leader.
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