OPINION:
It’s day one in Philadelphia, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz is getting booed.
On Monday morning, when Mrs. Wasserman Schultz spoke to the Florida delegation, people were chanting “shame on you!” and holding signs that simply read “emails.” And shouts of “Bernie” continued throughout Mrs. Wasserman’s speech.
On Sunday, after Mrs. Wasserman Schultz resigned from her position as chair — but not until the end of the Democratic convention — protesters were shouting “Debbie is done!” and “Debbie resigned!”
Quick note: More protesters have arrived to greet the Democrats than were ever on site for the entirety of the Republican Convention last week.
And it’s still early.
Who know’s what’s going to happen on Monday night, when Mrs. Wasserman Schultz gets ready to gavel in, right before Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders is set to take the stage.
I’ve called Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a sore loser, but there’s something seriously wrong with Mrs. Wasserman Schultz, who is boldly making her presence known at the convention after thousands of emails were released showing DNC staffers favored Mrs. Clinton’s campaign throughout the primary process — something Mr. Sanders and his supporters were suspicious of during the campaign.
The DNC chair is supposed to be neutral, but after limiting the number of debates from the onset of the campaign — and then deciding for them to be on low-viewership weekend dates — Mr. Sanders team took offense. The emails confirmed Mr. Sanders’ supporters beliefs that the DNC was actually working against them, with one staffer openly questioning in an email if Mr. Sanders faith should be brought up to deter voters.
President Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton reportedly spoke with Mrs. Wasserman Schultz before she decided to resign on Sunday — but what a shoddy deal they made.
The DNC convention is about Mrs. Clinton and getting her the votes and delegate support she needs to win in November — it’s her political coronation. And with Mrs. Clinton’s high unfavorables — she needs a good week, just as Donald Trump did last week.
It’s political malpractice to let the narrative shift off of Mrs. Clinton, or to how she’s a better candidate than Mr. Trump, and it will and already has as Mrs. Wasserman Schultz has been featured.
Although Mr. Sanders has been a good sport about the leak — calling for Mrs. Wasserman Schultz to resign and then thanking her when she did — some democratic insiders are worried they may have their own Mr. Cruz moment on the stage tonight — when Democratic unity is tested.
“And while party leaders were eager to insist they expected a show of unity thanks to that swift action against the chairwoman, there remained some worry that Sanders could offer a moment as dramatic as Republican Ted Cruz did when he refused to endorse GOP nominee Donald Trump on national television last week,” Politico reported Monday.
“There will be some amount of hand-wringing over the next day,” one House Democrat attending the convention told Politico. “Sen. Sanders will have a role to play in this as he talks to his delegates. I don’t expect a Ted Cruz moment.”
Doesn’t expect — but doesn’t rule one out, either. Yikes, Democrats, you’re supposed to be the party that has it all put together.
But maybe not. In addition to the Wasserman Schultz drama, Philadelphia has become a logistical nightmare — more planning-wise than city-caused.
On Sunday, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook admitted the program for the convention, and some keynote speakers, are still not set.
Reporters were confused on where to go to get credentialed and set up. They also were not receiving any responses from the DNC, which is in charge of the entire show.
“We often get criticized for not reporting all sides of a story. DNC hasn’t responded to a single request for comment since Friday,” Rick Klein, political director of ABC News, tweeted Sunday. “Cleveland was a logistical dream. Philadelphia a logistical nightmare. Nobody knows anything about where one can go and when.”
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