Oh God, I hope this doesn’t become yet another thing where that gets reduced to a symbolic shiny bauble of “slap in the face” grievance-mongering.
The reality is that there’s next to no appreciable difference of vision or planning between them and that the DNC isn’t the combination of the Central Committee of the Party and smokey back room machine politician and oligarch corruption organ that many of those prone to the reduction of things like this to shiny bauble fetish objects think it is.
I’m in favor of Perez, but if giving Ellison the nod means the Berniecrats will stop whining, I don’t mind him becoming chair. Especially now that he said he would resign his House seat to focus on the DNC full time.
There is honestly not much daylight between Perez and Ellison. But if Perez wins the Berniecrats will scream and shout and rant and rave and frankly I’m sick of their noise.
But whoever wins - if the Berniecrats insist they get rid of superdelegates, they better get rid of caucuses as well.
If Ellison loses to that corporate whore mongering Republican in democrat sheep-wear Perez, we’re going to split off and form a new party, dammit!
Ah, just kidding.
The chairman’s race isn’t the only issue facing the DNC.
but if giving Ellison the nod means the Berniecrats will stop whining,
It won’t matter, nothing will ever stop them from whining.
I will say this…others may disagree, but if they pick Perez, they will have shown us all they still dont get it. This is not saying Perez is not capable, but its optics. If he is picked it will feed the narrative that the Bernie wing has been locked out yet again and the establishment is imposing their will on the rest of Democrats. Thats how I would view a Perez win. I’m pretty surprised with Deans endorsement Buttegig (spelling is probably wrong) doesnt have more votes
Their whinning, like it or not, is where the energy is in the party. If no one wants to acknowledge that then we have more problems…because its pretty obvious.
Agreed. The party chair really functions as the head of organization and mobilization. They don’t decide the direction of the party, policy, etc. Those things are decided by the candidates and the voters, so I’m far less concerned about ideology, though the two are indistinguishable in that regard. The issues that matter most are recruiting great candidates, strong fundraising, building and launching an effective fifty state strategy that leaves few races uncontested, and most importantly, mobilizing Democratic voters to get their asses to the polls. I want a chair who’ll give a congressional candidate in Western KY the tools and freedom to run the race they need to run to win. I’d prefer Perez, but I don’t really give a damn who get the job as long as they do it well.
But what if they believe he’s the best man for the job? We, as a party, can’t become handcuffed to appeasing one wing of the party to the detriment of the party as a whole. And considering what we’ve witnessed in just the first month of the PP presidency, the whole “but they were mean to Bernie, ugh!” argument has lost it’s luster.
I think that Perez or Ellison would be equally qualified. Perez would have to start from a much weaker position though for the reason I identified. This is long ball…
So, dont pick him cause he is a Muslim…that kind of thinking makes us just as bad as Trump
Obama was as good and progressive as we can expect, but I was angry and disappointed when he (and Rahm?) jettisoned Howard Dean as party chair. Dean was great, energetic, and had a 50-state policy that won elections. I still don’t get what they purged him. As someone who gave Bernie $100 early in the campaign with a note saying: “I’ll support Bernie until it’s time to support Hillary”, (and I made that move before the NY primary), I am a pragmatist. A lot of good that did me.
We need a 50-state policy.
Ellison is an inspiring speaker, and a clear headed strategic thinker, who will not shy away from explaining liberal or progressive ideology. I fear that Perez will rely on Clinton-esque triangulating calculations, or Obama-esque demographic calculations, as opposed to explaining a clear progressive policy agenda for the entire country. The new surge of support for Obamacare shows that explaining the issues and the stakes, works. My only anticipated regret at a Keith Ellison victory will be losing his voice in Congress.
Then there is this
Other Democrats, meanwhile, worry whether Ellison, an unapologetically combative liberal, is the right messenger for a Democratic Party that has lost standing across wide swaths of the country.
Wow, an unapologetic liberal! I hope he apologizes, walks it all back cause we might offend someone.
So finally, it’s going to happen. Does the winner hit the road starting Monday? They’re both good and I would choose Ellison because he has the political background and might view the landscape with a more nuanced sense of what’s possible and what’s not. I use to think the Black Muslim identity politics would work against his effectiveness but WTF, Ellison’s got the passion and the drive - and I love the way he took over at the CPC when Obama came to Capital Hill, trying to bully them all over their votes for the TPA (fast tracking the TPP).
I just hope the best person for the job gets it.
Let those that represent the future of the party plan their future. Leaving Bernie off the ticket is what gave the election to Trump. Let’s stop pretending this is 1992 again. I want young people getting involved and staying active. What the Centralists think has been proven to not appeal to those having to deal with the 21st century.
No you see, that’s just it, their whining is not energy, it’s just infantile whining because they won’t compromise on their unrealistic expectations. They think the sun shines out of their assholes.
I attended the Women’s March. The energy is coming from EVERYWHERE within the DEMOCRATIC party, not just Berniecrats.
Exactly this. The substantive differences between Perez and Ellison are negligible. Both Pelosi and Schumer have endorsed. Yet somehow if Perez ends up winning the Berniecrats will feel they were “locked out” of the party - a party which BTW, their own appointed lord and savior hasn’t even joined. The constant whining while being completely unwilling to compromise themselves is getting very tiresome.
No. Don’t pick him because he has never run anything bigger than a ten person Congressional office. Don’t pick him because he brings more baggage with him than a fully loaded 747 on a transatlantic flight. Don’t pick him because he tried to undercut Barack Obama. Don’t pick him because he has less organizing experience than any of the people who have been organizing across the country since Trump’s election. Don’t pick him because he apparently has sold out the most important organizing job to a guy from New Hampshire whose “broad national experience” extends all the way to… Massachusetts. Don’t pick him because appeasing Bernie Sanders is demeaning and fruitless. Don’t pick him. Prriod.