This should come as no surprise to anyone even vaguely familiar with the history of the Democratic Party and its relationship with the left. DNC emails released by Wikileaks show us how DNC officials sought to undermine Bernie and his campaign. From the NYTimes today:
In one of the emails, dated May 21, Mark Paustenbach, a committee communications official, wrote to a colleague about the possibility of urging reporters to write that Mr. Sanders’s campaign was “a mess” after a glitch on the committee’s servers gave it access to Clinton voter data.
Imagine the reaction from the Clinton camp if someone on the DNC had urged the press to run a story about how the Clinton campaign was “a mess” because numerous aides were about to be questioned by the FBI and running scared their careers might be ended.
In an email exchange that month, another committee official wrote to both Mr. Paustenbach and Amy Dacey, the committee’s chief executive, to suggest finding a way to bring attention to the religious beliefs of an unnamed person, apparently Mr. Sanders. “It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God,” wrote Brad Marshall, the chief financial officer of the committee. “He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps.”
Imagine a situation where someone on the DNC suggested that a question be planted to ask Hillary about Bill Clinton’s philandering because it “could make several points difference with my peeps”. What would the reaction be?
The Intercept has a lot more analysis. There are e-mail exchanges showing DNC officials trying to further a false narrative that Sanders supporters engaged in violence at the Nevada conventions. This includes emails deriding Claire McCaskill as having “no backbone” because she said DWS and the DNC bore some responsibility for divisiveness in the party.
Other emails show DNC officials trying to manage the fallout from a Politico story that suggested the Hillary Victory Fund, a Joint Fundraising Committee, might be circumventing campaign finance rules by sending funds to state parties only to withdraw them the same day and use them to fund the Clinton campaign.
Reading these emails leaves you with the perception that DNC staffers thought it was their job to hamper the Sanders campaign. Perhaps they believe this based on their view of relative “electability”. That's the charitable interpretation. My own view is that like most people, staffers and officials were willing to use their positions to support Hillary’s candidacy because their careers were tied to the Clinton camp and they aligned with Clinton’s political views. Whatever their motives might be, they’re not in keeping with the assumption that the party apparatus should merely facilitate the primary, not decide its outcome.
For those on the left, and for Sanders supporters, it underscores the importance of placing supporters within the party machine. Hoping party officials will move towards a neutral position of their own accord is a fool’s errand. If we want change to come to the Democratic Party, it will have to involve changing personnel. That means running campaigns to replace officials who disdain candidates from the left and seek to undermine them. It means running for party posts, and challenging procedural moves designed to manufacture consent for a neoliberal agenda. It is #occupydemocrats.
That is the only way to ensure future candidates from the left aren't undermined by the Democratic Party.