Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz The Leader The Democratic Party Needs?


Suppose you are in charge of a major company that operates all over the country. You have one major competitor. Every two years each of you put the best products that you have to offer in front of the public. You ask the public to decide which product they prefer more. Despite being viewed more favorably by the American public with a 10 point margin, the country decides to choose your competitor by a wide differential.

This is what has happened to the Democratic Party under the leadership of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the current head of the Democratic National Committee.

Despite the Democratic Party being relegated to its smallest number of seats in the House of Representatives since 1929, Debbie Wasserman Schultz remains at the helm of the Democratic Party. The party’s more liberal grassroots base is aimed at restructuring the party and have their eyes focused on Schultz.

Schultz’s lack of effective leadership has trickled over from the 2014 midterms and is continuing on to the 2016 primaries. As head of the DNC, she seemed to unilaterally decide to limit debates and set them for times where viewership would be low. This suspicion has been confirmed, not by conservative politicians or media figures, but by Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s own vice-chairs at the DNC, R.T Ryback and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who recently stepped down to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for president.

Schultz has all too often been a fixture in the national media, many times being criticized for coming across as too partisan and combative. Internal polling by the White House lists her as President Obama’s least effective surrogate. But now she continues to be in the news for things she hoped to avoid.

In recent weeks, Schultz sided with Republicans in protecting payday lenders from facing a new series of modest federal regulations. The bill she has thrown her support behind would hamper the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency started in 2011 to protect consumers from predatory services and activities from the financial sector. The agency was originally proposed by Elizabeth Warren prior to her run for Senate and has been seen on the left as a step forward in preventing predatory financial services.

As if these actions weren’t already in stark contrast to where the base of the Democratic Party stands, Schultz decided to reverse the ban implemented by President Obama on accepting lobbying and political action committee (PAC) money, now allowing the party to become more cozy with corporations and special interests. Schultz often argues that in order to match the fundraising pace set by the GOP, Democrats must be willing to accept more money from corporate donors and special interests.

I’d like to direct Schultz’s attention to one of the two candidates still vying for her party’s nomination, who, despite not accepting PAC or corporate money is still raising more money than the candidate who does take special interest money. What Schultz doesn’t seem to understand is that if you provide a message the American people can believe in, they will be willing to contribute — something Senator Sanders’ campaign has clearly exemplified. It seems counter-intuitive that while the party pulls left and is almost universally calling for ways to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics that the head of the party is taking the opposite stance.


For those of us who want to see the future of the Democratic Party stand on a platform of progressive values and ideas, the leadership provided by Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been one of making the party once again cozy with corporate sponsorship and should be seen as an affront to democracy and the party as a whole. Those who see no wrong in Schultz’s tenure? They aren’t the future of the Democratic Party.

 

Featured image by Progressives Today

-B.A in History from SUNY Albany, 2013 -MPA from Baruch College (CUNY), 2015 -Volunteer for Bernie Sanders 2016 -former NYS Assembly employee