Debbie Wasserman Schultz should be counting down until the end of the summer.
Simply put, the Florida congresswoman who leads the DNC had a disastrous season. Wasserman Schultz should have left the DNC on a high note in 2012 when Barack Obama won the White House for four more years. Instead, she is still there even as Democrats appear headed to losing more congressional seats and, most likely, control of the Senate.
Wasserman Schultz compounded a bad summer by going over the top in attacking Scott Walker, claiming the Republican governor has given women the back of his hand. Even though she backed off and apologized, the damage had been done. Getting into a fight with Nancy Pelosi over who should be secretary of the DNC didnt help endear Wasserman Schultz to her caucus leader, especially if the Florida congresswoman wants to rise up the House ranks and become speaker eventually.
Part of being the chair of a major party is being on the high wire during national media appearances and, despite leading the DNC for almost three and a half years now, Wasserman Schultz simply isnt good at it. Besides the Walker incident, there were plenty of other problems. Back in July, attacking House Republicans for suing Obama, Wasserman Schultz said they were suing the president "for doing his job, and doing his job actually less often and at a rate that is lower than any other president since Grover Cleveland, a clear misspeak on her part. Wasserman Schultz also praised illegal immigrants as the backbone of the American economy.
Now none of these and other gaffes will hurt Wasserman Schultz in November. She holds a commanding lead over Republican Joe Kaufman in a very secure Democratic district.
But Wasserman Schultzs ambitions go higher. There is increasing speculation that she will run for the Senate in 2016 or 2018 even as some of her fellow Florida Democrats like Patrick Murphy and Ted Deutch also win some buzz. Wasserman Schultz could also set her sights on leading House Democrats, not a bad bet considering how much younger she is than Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. She left a nice trail of missteps, gaffes and blunders to be used against her by primary rivals or the GOP.
Wasserman Schultz is only 47 and has plenty of time to recover down the road. But this summer presented a chance for her to shine while Obama was bunkered down in the White House, Pelosi is political poison, the Clintons kept a lower profile as they plan ahead to 2016 and other possible presidential candidates remain frozen in place. Wasserman Schultz certainly tried to play the part but she blew her chances more often than not.
Tallahassee-based political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
