Bernie Sanders Calls Schultz Resignation ‘Right Decision,’ DNC Convention Unity In Peril
Bernie Sanders released a statement calling DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s decision resignation the “right decision.” Of course, it might be more of a job change, since she’s already accepted an “honorary” position with the Hillary Clinton campaign. That might cost the presidential candidate as progressives still struggle with their limited general election choices.
Bernie Sanders posted his simple statement on the resignation to his website.
“Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party. While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race.”
The email scandal has thrown what was supposed to be a convention for healing and uniting the party into disarray. As the New York Times put it, the emails revealed “the party was effectively an arm of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The messages showed members of the committee’s communications team musing about pushing the narrative that the Sanders campaign was inept and trying to raise questions publicly about whether he was an atheist.”
The revelation confirmed what many Bernie Sanders supporters had believed all along — that the primary election wasn’t fair.
Wikileaks released the emails, roughly 20,000 messages, on Friday, and the fallout is still in motion. According to sources speaking NBC News, Shultz has long been a pariah even within the party thanks to her questionable decisions and suggested that Clinton sidelined the chairwoman during the primaries.
The news inspired new protests in Philadelphia, where the DNC is set to start its convention tomorrow. Hillary Clinton suggested that Russia leaked the emails as a way of supporting Donald Trump, who has praised Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Trump couldn’t help but comment on the scandal on Twitter.
Today proves what I have always known, that @Reince Priebus is the tough one and the smart one, not Debbie Wasserman Shultz (@DWStweets.)
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016
I always said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The Dems Convention is cracking up and Bernie is exhausted, no energy left!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016
For a time before the scandal, Bernie Sanders and Clinton appeared to be on their way to unifying the party. Sanders endorsed Clinton, although he did not drop out of the race, and said that his delegates got 80 percent of his campaign’s positions onto the DNC platform. Likewise, fear of Donald Trump has driven the far-left and moderates together.
Now, that all seems to be in jeopardy, and Clinton neglected a chance to win over progressives by choosing so-called centrist Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as her running mate. Likewise, the previously email scandal involving Clinton’s private server and classified material left many voters dissatisfied. The majority of people thought that the former Secretary of State should have been charged, according to CNN, and Bill Clinton’s closed-door meeting with Loretta Lynch shortly before the FBI recommended no charges for her left an air of cronyism.
In a final insult to Bernie Sanders supporters, Clinton’s campaign announced that Schultz would stay on with the campaign as an “honorary chair” for its 50-state program.
In the end, Bernie Sanders supporters are being forced to swallow an increasingly bitter pill. Clinton and Schultz have marred the trust of progressives throughout the party, and the candidate was already widely disliked, according to Huffington Post polls. However, Bernie Sanders delegates won numerous victories in the fight for the party platform, and Donald Trump’s policies are anathema for many liberal voters.
Bernie Sanders will give the opening remarks at the DNC convention, where he will supposedly call on the party for focus on defeating Donald Trump, according to USA Today.
[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
