Jeff Henderson was so right Monday when he said the Debbie Wasserman Schultz reign is mainly on the wane. But I don't think even he knew just how far and fast the Democratic National Committee chairwoman has fallen.
I know I didn't.
If even half the buzz I'm hearing from Washington is on target -- and some of it is coming from savvy insiders close to the White House -- the question isn't how long is she going to last as the head of the DNC, it's how did she manage to last this long?
The things Washington only whispered about in the past -- that DWS is gaffe-prone, unprofessional, rude and "pathologically ambitious" -- now are shared over coffee in Capitol offices.
Apparently she has become a liability to the DNC, and even to her own prospects.
In a story Wednesday, reliable news source Politico.com said Wasserman Schultz is"in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most."
Cindy Hicks Flava, consultant, former MoveOn.org staffer and Washington insider, told me in a telephone interview Thursday that Wasserman Schultz's shoot-from-the-hip style "has finally caught up with her. The people I talk to are still trying to live down her domestic violence reference in Wisconsin," she said.
I wrote about that particular flub on Sept. 9 ("Debbie Does Dumb (Again!)," though I wasn't as aware when I wrote it as I am today what a stir it caused within the DNC and even in the White House.
To recap, two weeks ago in Milwaukee during a round-table discussion and in front of a roomful of cameras, DWS said, "What Republican tea party extremists like (Wisconsin Gov.) Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. ..."
What I didn't report -- what I didn't know until later -- was that Walker's outraged Republican lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, reacted immediately, calling the use of domestic violence language in political disagreements "despicable," and thereby pitching throngs of women across the nation into a frenzy. Kleefisch called on Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke to "denounce these outrageous statements."
Sure enough, Burke felt forced into a corner. Social media had gone wild. Bottom line, Stephanie Wilson, Burke's press secretary, was forced to issue a statement suggesting Wasserman Schultz had gone too far. "That's not the type of language that Mary Burke would use, or has used, to point out the clear differences in this contest," Wilson wrote. "There is plenty that she and Gov. Walker disagree on -- but those disagreements can and should be pointed out respectfully."
Flava told me,"I think Wisconsin could be the last straw. Debbie's misfired one too many times. She is now perceived to have just too many flaws to continue in such a high-profile job."
I asked Flava, has President Obama noticed?
"Outwardly, the president is complimentary about the chairwoman," she said. "But I'm hearing from his staff people she doesn't get invited to the important strategy meetings anymore. That's a pretty good sign she's been blackballed, and maybe for good."
Edward-Isaac Dovere, Politico.com's senior White House reporter, is devastingly direct in his in-depth story, "Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz." The story confirms everything Flava says -- oh, yes, the president has noticed -- and more.
Writes Dovere, "The White House is staring at two years of life under a GOP-controlled House and Senate. The DNC chair, however, isnt involved in the strategy talks with the president. They dont want her there."
They don't want her there.This from a seasoned journalist who covers the White House. I think he's close enough to know what he's talking about, don't you?
Dovere regales the story of Obama's first meeting with DWS. Just after she became chairwoman, he writes, having pushed for a meeting with the president, Wasserman Schultz kicked things off by complaining she had been blocked from hiring the daughter of a donor -- who had been on staff in her congressional office -- as a junior staffer to be the DNCs Jewish community liaison. Obama was blown away by the inappropriateness of it.
Wasserman Schultz has upset Obama's favorites Marlon Marshall and Buffy Wicks. At the Charlotte convention in 2012 she upset Obama himself, having her DNC staff explore and plot how she could remain chairwoman if Obama lost the race.
Dovere says after the election, Obamas top political operatives -- strategist David Plouffe, re-election campaign manager Jim Messina and then-DNC Executive Director Patrick Gaspard, now U.S. ambassador to South Africa -- "debated the decision of retaining her as DNC chair so intensely that there was already a replacement in mind: R.T. Rybak, the former mayor of Minneapolis and a DNC vice chairman."
Flava told me she had heard most of the Wasserman Schultz stories, but "the juiciest was before the Democratic National Convention when she was desperate to get the DNC to pay for her convention wardrobe.
"It was a major farce," said Flava. "She was turned down by so many different people and at (Obama's) inauguration, she was still looking for a clothing reimbursement. People all over town were laughing about it. She even had her staff asking on her behalf."
While the "clothing incident" and her self-dealing are small potatoes in the full context of current Democratic woes, slighting Hillary Clinton is not. And some time back, she did manage to do that. Hillary, said Flava, "doesn't forget when she's been done a wrong."
In 2008, Wasserman Schultz was a co-chair of Clintons presidential run. But in the rough final weeks, she abandoned her loyalty and looking to stand with the winner, reached out to the Obama camp to let them know Clintons campaign was over.The Obama campaign then went to Clinton and used DWS's defection against her.
So, how is it DWS has lasted even this long in such high party office?
Said Politico.com's Dovere, "She has overseen the integration of key elements of the Obama campaigns, including its voter file and data programs. After being left with $25 million in bills from the Obama campaign, the DNC enters the fall with the debt cleared and over $7 million on hand."
Flava agreed with Dovere. "Her fundraising exploits for the DNC are second to none. Plus, she really has devoted a lot of time and energy to building the organization.
"But my guess," she said, "is that once midterms are over, just watch: Debbie becomes just another backbencher from Florida."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
