The embattled US Democratic Party chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, says she will resign, following a row over leaked internal email exchanges among Democratic National Committee senior leadership and insiders. The resignation, while threatening the recent efforts to unite the fractured party, appears to boost those supporting Bernie Sanders. The e-mail scandal could not come at the worst moment, ahead of the presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia, starting on July 25, 2016.
The emails leaked by Wilkileaks, appear to confirm that Democratic party leadership have tried to undermine Bernie Sanders' campaign in favor of his rival,
Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders, who, for months, had asked for the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, alluding to the bias depicted in the e-mails, appears vindicated.
"And I think these emails reiterate that reason why she should not be chair," Bernie told US media ABC on Sunday. However, Bernie has stuck to his endorsement for Hillary Clinton and support of the Hillary's choice Tim Kaine, for the running mate.
Bernie Sanders' supporters were rattled by the emails have been converging to Philadelphia to show their displeasure.The leaked e-mails have given additional boost to these unhappy supporters. During the campaign, when Bernies Sanders lost key states and started expressing ambivalent positions raising the possibility of Bernie Sanders endorsing Hillary Clinton, in case she wins, a vocal group of die-hard Sanders supporters took to the social media and other media outlets with a motto of “Bernie or Burst,” saying they will never support Hillary Clinton under any circumstances. Bernie Sanders and his supporters also attached the DNC for being biased and creating a "rigged" electoral process.
At the time, faced with the potential backlash from Bernie Sanders backers, his senior adviser Tad Devine appeared to back away from the possibility of Sanders being Hillary Clinton's running mate. Some had said that if ever Bernie Sanders joined forces with Hillary Clinton as a running mate, then they would seriously and actively question Sanders's integrity. Some were so turned off by the possibility of Hillary Clinton being a president that they expressed their strong intention of forgoing their voting right for this term.
Now that these e-mails may have fueled the "Bernie or Burst" movement and undermine the Democratic Party unity even further. Whether Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation will stop the damage and the Philadelphia convention will repair the fracture remains to be seen. US First Lady Michelle Obama's and Bernie Sanders' speeches are scheduled for Monday, the first of the four-day convention in Philadelphia.
But hundreds of thousands of Bernie's supporters and most of them members of "Bernie or Burst" have started to protest in Philadelphia. They want Bernie to rescind his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, probably not possible, but a major issue for the embattled Democratic Party.
