The DNC Contenders Are Not Interested In Your Populist Moment
I am not angry anymore. Wastes too much energy. I am back #teamPerez
The DNC Contenders Are Not Interested In Your Populist Moment
Rank-and-file voters are angry, but nobody told the candidates.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dnc-debate-courage-opposition_us_58803552e4b02c1837e9bf7f?section=us_politics
01/19/2017 12:27 am ET | Updated 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON ― The seven leading candidates to serve as the next chair of the Democratic National Committee gathered at George Washington University on Wednesday night to dodge key questions about party reform and pander to the 447 insiders who will elect the next Democratic leader.
At a debate sponsored by The Huffington Post, contenders repeatedly called for “unity” and made vague calls for better “organizing” while sidestepping important issues about how the DNC should govern its future affairs.
Many committed Democrats are following the DNC race as a fight for the future of the party. After a devastating presidential defeat and nearly a decade of steady losses in Congress and at the state level, there aren’t many other political battles for party activists to focus on. But the candidates themselves are not catering to grass-roots organizers or rank-and-file voters. They’re seeking the support of a majority of DNC members ― mostly state party leaders and political appointees ― and doing their damnedest to avoid ruffling any feathers. If any of the candidates on stage Wednesday were auditioning to serve as the opposition leader against President-elect Donald Trump, s/he managed to fool everyone.
Damon Scheleur/The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post hosted a debate among seven Democratic National Committee chair candidates on Wednesday.
None were willing to call for an end to state caucuses ― complex presidential nominating processes that undermine a one-person-one-vote framework. When asked what the party should do about superdelegates ― party insiders the DNC has long granted special influence over its presidential nomination ― no candidate would support simply scuttling the undemocratic system. Former Fox News commentator Jehmu Greene spoke for the slate by arguing Democrats “need to be the party of innovation” on the superdelegate question.
Coincidentally, members of the Democratic National Committee who get to vote for the DNC chair also serve as superdelegates in the presidential nominating process.
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All seven candidates also agreed the DNC needs to be involved in “street-fighting,” “protests” and “direct action.”
Damon Scheleur/The Huffington Post
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Labor Secretary Tom Perez was the only DNC chair contender calling for across-the-board obstruction to Donald Trump’s agenda.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez, alone among the contenders, appeared to call for across-the-board obstruction to Trump’s agenda, registering the most rhetorically potent moment of the evening. “We can hit [Trump] between the eyes with a two-by-four and treat him like Mitch McConnell treated Barack Obama.”
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It would make the next DNC chair’s job easy if Democrats could agree about everything all the time. But there are genuine disputes within the party over how to move forward in a moment of historic political impotence. On Wednesday night, nobody was willing to light the way.
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