Story highlights Jonathan Tasini: It's time for President Obama to remove DNC chair

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a failed leader for Democratic Party, Tasini says

Jonathan Tasini has been a frequent commentator on CNN and is a Bernie Sanders supporter. He unsuccessfully challenged Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Senate primary in New York in 2006. He is the author of "The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America," president of the Economic Future Group and the publisher/editor of Working Life. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) The President of the United States has a phone call to make.

He needs to call Debbie Wasserman Schultz and request that for the good of Democratic Party unity and to best Donald Trump in November, she step aside.

Jonathan Tasini

It is clear that the Democratic Party is headed for a tumultuous convention, one in which advocates for two very different visions of what the party should stand for will wrestle to try to shape its platform -- not to mention nominate our standard bearer. In this process, we will need to look up to the podium to see a leader who can rise above the fray to inspire confidence on both sides. Wasserman Schultz does not meet that standard.

As an individual, Wasserman Schultz has every right to support a candidate. However, the position of Democratic National Committee chair requires resolute neutrality, both in perception and in practice. Yet at major milestones in the primary race, Wasserman Schultz's actions have been anything but neutral -- to the extreme detriment of the party.

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Let's start with the debate schedule. You would think that, given the Republicans' chaotic scrum of sniping candidates, the DNC chair would gleefully schedule a large number of debates to reach the widest audience with essentially free promotion of a slate of thoughtful candidates. Instead, Wasserman Schultz, without seeking broad input from her vice chairs, limited the number of debates to six. Even though three were later added, by contrast, the party had 15 primary debates in 2004 and 25 debates in 2008.

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