Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt resignation announcement on Sunday was engineered to head off any public rebellion by supporters of Sanders that would upend the carefully crafted image of unity that Democrats planned for their convention.
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Well, suddenly it was Wasserman Schultz’s outfit under scrutiny – not a renegade campaign but the Democratic Party itself.
“Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight”, he said. She said she’d been turned off by Democratic politics after what she said happened in California during that state’s primary election last month. She warned that the White House couldn’t be in the hands of someone with “a thin skin or a tendency to lash out” or someone who tells voters the country can be great again.
“She’s been fixing endorsements right and left”, he said on Fox News.
The Convention theme on Monday is united together. And the meaning of the National Basketball Association moving the All Star game out of North Carolina.
An array of office holders and celebrities hammered home the call for unity, with singer Paul Simon singing his “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as delegates linked arms and swayed to the music.
But Debbie wasn’t the only one to experience fallout from the DNC’s email hack as the convention got underway. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Al Franken of Minnesota, anchored the string of speeches.
The scandal is an unwanted distraction as the Democratic Party tries to paint itself as paint itself as unified at the four-day convention.
DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the Florida State Fairgrounds Entertainment Hall, Friday, July 22, 2016, in Tampa, Fla.
Overcoming the lingering resentment among Sanders supporters may become the task of the week.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the convention center, where 18 protesters have been arrested so far. Clinton’s campaign quickly added more Sanders’ supporters to the speakers lineup. “Crazy Bernie’s going insane right now”, he said. As he accepted the Republican nomination, Trump said: “The legacy of Hillary Clinton is death, destruction, terrorism and weakness”.
But Sanders maintained that his support for Clinton is strong, saying his immediate message to his supporters now is that “disastrous” Donald Trump must be defeated.
“If you were sitting where I am sitting and you have heard what I have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation, every long walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything”.
His supporters were already dismayed last week when Clinton passed over liberal favorites like U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of MA to select the more moderate U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her vice presidential running mate.
Trump was a frequent target throughout the night, though the jabs were often more mocking than mean. He said he hoped she would be stripped of her speaking role at the convention.
Former state Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland said some Sanders backers also want to see if promises being made to Sanders will be kept.
Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigned after Wikileaks revealed tens of thousands of emails in order to prove that the party leadership favored Clinton and tried to sabotage Sanders. But the electricity in the arena really surged when Sanders took the stage and he had to pause numerous times before resuming his speech.
“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays”, Sanders wrote.
A CNN/ORC opinion poll on Monday gave Trump a three-point lead over former secretary of state Clinton, 48 percent to her 45 percent in a two-way presidential matchup.
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Clinton is promising a stark contrast to last week’s Republican gathering, an often chaotic affair that featured a heavy dose of pessimism about the economy and national security.
