Dem Chair Wasserman Schultz in West Palm: middle class stability “not a bargaining chip”

Palm Beach Post
By Andrew Abramson

WEST PALM BEACH — Fresh off President Barack Obama’s second inaugural speech, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Friday echoed Obama’s themes of gun control, equality for gays and lesbians, immigration reform and climate change prevention at The Forum Club.

“In every corner of America, from Boca to Milwaukee, Seattle to Cincinnati, millions of people rallied around this shared vision for our country,” said U.S. Rep Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, speaking in front of 600 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

As the debate over gun control heats up in Congress, Wasserman Schultz recalled the story of the assassination attempt of her close friend, former U.S. Re.p Gabrielle Giffords, and then spoke about the recent mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

“Twenty six-year-olds lose their lives senselessly and needlessly because at the end of the day, no matter how deranged the individual was, he had access to weapons and high-capacity magazines he had no business having access to,” she said. “There is no need for someone not in the military to have those (weapons) or else those little kids wouldn’t be dead.”

Obama won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2012 presidential race, buttressing support for Democrats’ efforts to “ensure a level playing field for American workers in continuing to fight for comprehensive immigration reform,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We’ll make clear we welcome the dreamers who see America as the land of opportunity.”

On Monday, Obama became the first president to use the word “gay” as a reference to sexual orientation in an inaugural speech. On Friday, Wasserman Schultz said the country is “finally seeing historic progress” in LBGT rights. “I could not have been more proud on Monday when President Obama so eloquently reminded us as that as Americans our journey is not complete until it is complete for everybody,” she said.

While environmentalists criticized Obama for not doing enough to address climate change in his first term, Obama resurrected the issue in his inaugural speech. Wasserman Schultz said there has to be a comprehensive plan on climate change, while referencing her fellow Palm Beach County congressmen. “Lois (Frankel), Patrick (Murphy), Ted (Deutch) and I will ultimately represent Orlando rather than the coastline if we don’t do something soon,” she joked.

While social change was a major theme of Obama’s inaugural address, the country still faces economic crisis and Wasserman Schultz called on Republicans to cooperate in the debt ceiling debate.

“The financial stability of America’s middle class families is not a bargaining chip,” she said. “It’s time to come together and bring down the deficit in a balanced, responsible way so we can keep growing our economy and there are opportunities for all American middle class families.”

Palm Beach Councilman Bill Diamond, a GOP fundraiser and one of the few Republican politicians in the audience, said afterward that he was “pleasantly surprised” and thought Wasserman Schultz’s comments were “conciliatory.”

“There seemed to be a willingness to work on common goals and find bipartisan solutions and I think that in the long run is encouraging,” Diamond said.