PHILADELPHIA — Democrats gaveled in their presidential convention Monday desperately trying to stitch together a semblance of unity amid an ongoing rebellion by the party’s left flank, furious at what it sees as a rigged process that produced Hillary Clinton as the nominee.
Speaker after speaker on the stage urged unity.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, Mrs. Clinton’s chief opponent in the primaries, told his supporters the comparison between Mrs. Clinton and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wall Street regulations, immigration and Supreme Court picks is “not even close.”
“By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that — based on her ideas and her leadership — Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” he said.
Earlier in the evening first lady Michelle Obama begged for votes for Mrs. Clinton, saying the occupants of the White House shape the country’s children.
“This election, and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives. I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility,” Mrs. Obama said.
SEE ALSO: Elizabeth Warren tells warring Democrats they can’t ‘turn on each other’
But dissension peeked around every corner — including even before the opening prayer was through, with Clinton backers fighting a war of words with the supporters of Sen. Bernard Sanders, her chief challenger during the primaries. Throughout the night the mere mention of Mrs. Clinton’s name drew boos from a small but vocal minority of delegates to the convention, who instead chanted “Bernie!”
They drew a scolding from the stage, where the convention’s permanent chair, Rep. Marcia Fudge, found herself being drowned out by jeers.
“We are all Democrats, and we need to act like it,” she said.
One of those booing the mention of Mrs. Clinton’s name was California delegate Alexis Edelstein, who said by nominating Mrs. Clinton, the party was guaranteeing that Republican nominee Donald Trump would be elected in November.
“We don’t support her,” said Mr. Edelstein, a delegate for Mr. Sanders who was still holding out hope for a miracle when the roll call vote is held Tuesday, with superdelegates denying Mrs. Clinton the nomination.
Deep divisions emerged not only over Mrs. Clinton, but also over President Obama, whose efforts to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal sparked angry chants of “No TPP!”
SEE ALSO: Michelle Obama praises Hillary Clinton’s ‘guts and grace’
In Washington, the White House insisted that Mr. Obama’s party is unified, but on the ground in Philadelphia, the signs of divisiveness abounded.
Pro-Sanders delegates were plotting strategy, including potentially trying to challenge Mrs. Clinton’s pick of Sen. Tim Kaine to be her running mate. The only problem, the Sanders delegates said, was finding someone willing to stand up and buck the Clintons.
“We’ve approached a number of people, and those who want to eat lunch at the White House next year, they run the other way,” said Norman Solomon, a national coordinator for the Bernie Delegates Network.
The Clinton campaign paraded former Sanders supporters across the stage to plead for unity, including comic Sarah Silverman, who was still shouted down by “Bernie” chants.
“To the Bernie-or-bust people, you’re being ridiculous,” she chided them.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who has become a favorite of the left, pleaded for Democrats to stop the infighting.
“When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas,” Ms. Warren said in her prepared remarks. “When we turn on each other, we can’t unite to fight back against a rigged system.”
About the only source of unity at the convention was enmity toward Mr. Trump, who speaker after speaker called a “bully.”
“He’s been vulgar and he’s been intolerant,” said Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California, whose parents came from Mexico. She said she was appalled by Mr. Trump’s accusation that Mexico sends rapists and other bad elements to the U.S.
“What about my parents, Donald?” she said — before pointing out that her parents are the first in American history to have two daughters serve together in Congress.
Mr. Trump emerged from his convention last week with a surprisingly unified Republican Party behind him, powering him to a lead over Mrs. Clinton in the latest polls.
Campaigning in Virginia, Mr. Trump mocked Democrats’ troubles and predicted that many of Mr. Sanders’ supporters will vote for him in the end.
“Fifty percent of that party is Bernie Sanders, almost, and they’re very passionate. And that’s a much more passionate side. Her people, they fall asleep,” Mr. Trump said.
He predicted that picking Mr. Kaine will only inflame the divisions that Mrs. Clinton spent the primary campaign trying to hide, as she moved left to stem Mr. Sanders’ surge. But in the last week, much of that work has been undone.
The selection of Mr. Kaine angered liberals, who said his record as a pro-life politician who opposes same-sex marriage makes him an odd choice. Then thousands of internal party emails were posted to WikiLeaks suggesting that Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her top aides plotted to derail Mr. Sanders’ White House bid.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz has said she will resign at the end of the convention, and on Monday gave up the honor of gaveling in the convention.
The DNC, meanwhile, issued a stunning apology for the emails, calling them “inexcusable.”
“The DNC does not — and will not — tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again,” said the DNC officials, led by incoming interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz did not sign the statement.
Susan Hall, a Sanders delegate from Scranton, Pennsylvania, said she isn’t accepting the DNC’s apology.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Ms. Hall said. “There’s got to be consequences, and I haven’t seen consequences.”
She said she was particularly peeved that the Clinton campaign said it would bring on Ms. Wasserman Schultz as an honorary chairwoman of the campaign’s 50-state outreach program and use her as a surrogate.
She said many Sanders supporters aren’t accepting his message to swing their support to Mrs. Clinton.
“I came to vote in the roll call vote for Bernie,” she said. “That’s my candidate. A lot of us still haven’t heard anything to persuade us differently.”
⦁ S.A. Miller, Ben Wolfgang, David Sherfinski and Valerie Richardson contributed to this report from Philadelphia. Seth McLaughlin reported from Washington.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.