DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz addresses her new book directly to the Tea Party.
Even before she became chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had been a target of Tea Party right — not to mention ex-Congressman Allen West, who once told her she was “vile.”
In her first book, “For the Next Generation: A Wake-Up Call to Solving Our Nation’s Problems,” it’s clear why.
If Tea Party partisans view government as the problem, Wasserman Schultz unapologetically finds in it a solution. Whether it’s for crumbling infrastructure, overweight kids, unequal pay, unsafe consumer products, military-style weapons, or sick people thrown off health insurance, she insists there’s a role for regulations and federal leadership.
She speaks directly to Tea Party members, explaining in tones at times wonky and other times motherly, her conviction that Americans need a strong safety net for the vulnerable and sick.
“If it weren’t for these programs, there would be more people on the street, resorting to panhandling or stealing out of desperation,” she writes. “We must stay true to the commitment we made to aging members of our community and to others who depend on us.”
Wasserman Schultz lives in Weston and represents South Florida’s District 23, which covers much of Broward County as well as Miami Beach. She arrived in Washington in 2004 with more than a dozen years in the Florida Legislature on her resume, and a degree in political science from the University of Florida. She hasn’t lost an election since she ran for student council in high school.
At a White House dinner for new members of Congress in 2005, she found herself seated with recently re-elected President George W. Bush. He told the group he intended to use his re-election’s political capital to privatize Social Security.
She was aghast.
“If you’re very near retirement and your portfolio suffers a downturn, then you are potentially facing no income for the rest of your life. What happens then?”
Her book is written from a mother’s perspective, with 14-year-old twins Rebecca and Jake and her 10-year-old daughter Shelby constantly in the foreground.
She recently answered questions about the book, co-written with Julie Fenster – discussing what’s in its pages, and what’s not.
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QUESTION: A lot of us who remember your Tallahassee start in politics were fascinated to see you rise to chair the Democratic National Committee in 2011. From this position, you are a magnet for partisan attacks. How did it happen? What reactions did you get? And why did you leave it out of the book?
ANSWER: “It has actually been quite wonderful. My constituents, especially seniors — my senior voters acted like it was like their daughter or granddaughter who had accomplished something fantastic. I have a pretty sophisticated constituency. I think they understand that being in this position, one of the political voices of the President, means I’m going to be more effective for them.
I was a vice chair of the DNC when Barack Obama became president in 2008. When (former DNC Chair, Virginia Sen.) Tim Kaine began talking to me about whether I’d be interested in taking on the role, I started talking to a lot of the President’s political advisors about my interests. We had many, many discussions on the phone…When the President called, he said ‘Debbie, I would love it if you would take on the role of chairing the DNC,’ I said, ‘My gosh, Mr. President, I would be honored to carry the ball, and I’ve got your back.’
This is not a memoir at all — I have a lot of life to live before anything like that happens. My goal was to try to motivate people and move our discussion forward.”
President Obama relied on Wasserman Schultz during his 2012 re-election campaign. / Al Diaz, Miami Herald
Q: It appears from afar that you and the president are very close, not just ideologically, but personally. Is that true? What do you chat about?
A: When you walk through the fire of a presidential campaign, you definitely grow closer. Some of what we talked about has been serious, different aspects of what we should be doing — the strategy and brass tacks of the campaign.
But a lot of the conversation was really parent-to-parent. We have girls the same age. With both the President and the First Lady, most of the conversations we have are about having daughters in high school who want to grow up faster than we want them to. It’s helpful to compare notes when you are living your life in the public eye. There are a very small group of people you can talk to and relate.
A lot of the perspective I share in the book is that we have very big problems we have been sweeping under the rug for too long. The gridlock has to stop. We are committed to trying to break this gridlock because we are living through our role as parents every day.
Living for the next generation is not an abstract concept. My children are there when I open the front door, they are in the back seat when I drive, they are on the field when I’m at the soccer game. I am living the experience of what the impact of these decisions and indecision will have on their future.
Gosh, I didn’t have time to write a book. What motivated me was, if we don’t deal with the environment, with health care, with energy, with civil rights and worker safety, the full brunt of that will be on our kids. It’s all about them. It’s all about them.”
Q: What about becoming a magnet for attacks from the right, how does your family deal with that?
A: My kids are not combing the newspapers and my Twitter feed. They understand it’s politics, it’s not personal. My husband is not that political to begin with. Some stuff makes him mad.
Q: Are you going to get involved in Florida’s upcoming gubernatorial race? Will Charlie Crist be the Democratic Party’s candidate?
A: “I’m involved heavily in state politics, as the chair of the national party. I’m focused on electing Democratic governors across the country, and winning back a House majority so we can avoid gridlock. We are involved in races up and down the ballot, and we will absolutely be involved in the Florida governor’s race. Charlie Crist has not announced.”
Q: In the book you talk a lot about wanting to attract more women candidates to run for office. Why do you feel so strongly about that?
A: “There are eight women in Congress with children younger than 10. The odds of issues important to young parents getting to the top of the legislative agenda are proportional to the number of moms in Congress. We need more women to run, more women to get engaged. The women in Congress say, ‘You put us in a room, because we are so committed to our kids, and to consensus, we could solve this (budget impasse) in a couple of hours.’ Women are more interested in finding common ground and ensuring the people they are working with take away a piece of the win. So I think adding more women to policy roles would be incredibly helpful.”
Q: You’ve been one of the President’s most visible and vocal advocates for the Affordable Care Act. You write at length in the book about health care being a basic right. Not everyone agrees with you. What do you say to them?
A: “No one in this country questions that you should have to pay for a public education. Education is a right. It ensures everyone has a chance at success and access to opportunity. Well, in America we are at a point in our history where we have to take health care off the table and make it a given. Without it you cannot ensure everyone’s success and peace of mind.”
Q: How frustrating has it been for you to see the difficult rollout of healthcare.gov? Does it put the program in political danger?
A: “They definitely had some kinks in the website design. But look, that should be the worst of our problems in rolling out a change to our health care system that is this significant. The bottom line is, we are going to cover millions of Americans that weren’t covered before. Young adults can stay on their parents’ insurance ‘till 26, patients like me don’t have to worry about being dropped by their insurance company after they get sick.”
Q: “You were silent about your breast cancer for a long time. Why?”
A: “At 41, the last thing you expect to happen to you is a catastrophic illness. I never thought it would be me. Having the experience personally of having a catastrophic illness it makes everything else fade into the background.
When you are battling cancer, or multiple sclerosis, or any critical illness, whether or not your medical bills will be paid cannot be a battle you have to face, too. Realizing I was one job loss away from being uninsurable? Hearing from other women who had breast cancer? Women told me they couldn’t afford it, and they had to choose between chemo and radiation. Women described being kicked off their insurance while they were undergoing treatment.
I am so glad I was vocal. It was important for me to put a human face on the impact the Affordable Care Act would have. There are countless stories we can retell as advocates for the Affordable Care Act, but I was able to share my story.
The other day when I spoke on the House floor against the Republicans hurtling toward shutdown in exchange for not funding or delaying the Affordable Care Act, at a certain point I said to the Republicans, ‘Look, you need to walk a mile in my shoes and the shoes of millions of women like me. You are saying that on Jan. 1, you are going to yank away the peace of mind we now have about not being uninsurable because of our pre-existing condition?’ For them to hold the economy hostage is absolutely unacceptable.”