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In reply to the discussion: Keith Ellison: [View all]Gothmog
(145,291 posts)136. Why did Keith Ellison lose the DNC race?
A different WP analysis is very interesting and I agree with this part of the analysis https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/26/why-did-keith-ellison-lose-the-dnc-race/?utm_term=.ddf92ce89da9
DNC members were not ready to reject the Obama legacy. The basic critique of Bruenig et al is right: The leadership of the Democratic Party, nationally and in most states, has resisted acknowledging the failures of the Obama years. Brazile opened the first of the party's four future forums by telling Democrats that the DNC failed you in 2016 and got cocky about our invincible blue wall.
But for Brazile and other Democrats, the death blows to the party's 2016 campaign were struck by Russian hacking and by FBI Director James B. Comey. They have little time for the activists who say that the Democratic primary between Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Hillary Clinton was rigged the evidence, the establishment wing says, comes from emails hacked from the DNC and the Clinton campaign and released at damaging times to divide the party. (This is separate from the issue of then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz scheduling only a few, late party presidential debates, which even Perez criticized. When he stumbled and appeared to say that the primary had been rigged, he explained that he was talking only about the debates.)
The DNC, composed of leaders from 57 state and territorial parties and scores of at-large members, roiled with frustrations over how the Obama-era party had lost. But the left's critique of the Obama years that it had pursued neoliberal policies and left running room for populists such as Donald Trump is not yet accepted across the party.
It was notable when Ellison was endorsed by AFSCME, AFL-CIO and AFT leaders because their unions had endorsed Clinton while disagreeing with her on trade policy. But to more DNC members, the party was losing for a more prosaic reason a lack of local investment. To the Obama administration veterans who backed Perez, and urged him into the race, Ellison and Sanders had criticized their policies without achieving anything of their own. They easily won over DNC members who agreed; they added votes from party activists who simply needed more money and support.
The president himself has said we need to do more to rebuild the Democratic Party infrastructure, Perez told the Huffington Post last year, referring to Obama.
But for Brazile and other Democrats, the death blows to the party's 2016 campaign were struck by Russian hacking and by FBI Director James B. Comey. They have little time for the activists who say that the Democratic primary between Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Hillary Clinton was rigged the evidence, the establishment wing says, comes from emails hacked from the DNC and the Clinton campaign and released at damaging times to divide the party. (This is separate from the issue of then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz scheduling only a few, late party presidential debates, which even Perez criticized. When he stumbled and appeared to say that the primary had been rigged, he explained that he was talking only about the debates.)
The DNC, composed of leaders from 57 state and territorial parties and scores of at-large members, roiled with frustrations over how the Obama-era party had lost. But the left's critique of the Obama years that it had pursued neoliberal policies and left running room for populists such as Donald Trump is not yet accepted across the party.
It was notable when Ellison was endorsed by AFSCME, AFL-CIO and AFT leaders because their unions had endorsed Clinton while disagreeing with her on trade policy. But to more DNC members, the party was losing for a more prosaic reason a lack of local investment. To the Obama administration veterans who backed Perez, and urged him into the race, Ellison and Sanders had criticized their policies without achieving anything of their own. They easily won over DNC members who agreed; they added votes from party activists who simply needed more money and support.
The president himself has said we need to do more to rebuild the Democratic Party infrastructure, Perez told the Huffington Post last year, referring to Obama.
Instead of focusing on attacking Obama policies, the better course is to rebuild the party and I believe that Perez is the better man for this job. The focus needs to be on rebuilding the party from the ground up and right now the Indivisible and other groups are fueling this more than the Sanders wing. At the last county democratic executive committee, there were three groups who spoke. The Indivisible group had 100+ at their first meeting and another group that used to be Pants Suits Nation has 900+ face book followers. The Our Revolution person talked about manifestos (nine times in two minutes) and said that they had almost a dozen people active. Things may change but the energy on the ground is not being driven in Texas by the Our Revolution people in my part of the state.
I am very glad that Perez won and I think that he is in a better position to rebuild the party from the ground up.
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But there seems to be a few trying really hard to keep up the schtick here on DU.
KittyWampus
Feb 2017
#4
He's absolutely correct. Having the two of them working together as a team...
WePurrsevere
Feb 2017
#6
No, you ain't "heard" nothing except whatever assumptions you got going on in your head..
JHan
Feb 2017
#22
You seem concerned. Please feel free to air more of your concerns, and enjoy your stay. nt
msanthrope
Feb 2017
#118
Correlation does not imply causation. You need to spend more time looking into
stevenleser
Feb 2017
#49
Each issue is different, but one thing is certain, correlation does not imply causation.
stevenleser
Feb 2017
#85
That is not really true...she was a terrible fund raiser and starved the states...
Demsrule86
Feb 2017
#84
So it's "dredging up the past" to consider past failures and how to prevent them
ciaobaby
Feb 2017
#37
We need a plan. We could live with that. Let's see what Perez does, maybe he will start shifting
JudyM
Feb 2017
#39
Wrong...we are not supposed to use right wing sites against fellow Democrats.
Demsrule86
Feb 2017
#122
What do you think the immediate and practical result of refusing money would be to the Democratic pa
LanternWaste
Feb 2017
#156
We lost everything during those years...did you ever think banning the money
Demsrule86
Feb 2017
#123
The passion is not coming from people pushing sanders failed platform but from people against trump
Gothmog
Feb 2017
#71
It serves no good purpose for you to keep treating the Sanders movement with contempt and derision.
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#96
Of all the posts on this thread, I can't believe this one got alerted on.
Crunchy Frog
Mar 2017
#203
And with that, Keith proved that the suspicion and distrust directed his way was out of line.
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#19
Wrong. The distrust wasn't toward Keith. It was never about Keith the Man...
NurseJackie
Feb 2017
#83
Very well put, NurseJackie, thank you. I loved Keith's comments after the vote was announced....
George II
Feb 2017
#86
I never really got the impression that "grassroots funding" was one of Keith's issues.
NurseJackie
Feb 2017
#113
I don't accept that you're an insider simply because you've been in office for awhile.
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#130
And I'm not sure why it seems to be so important to you to label every possible candidate an insider
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#132
You're assuming that Keith was CALLING for the party to reject the Obama legacy.
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#138
I strongly disagree with your analysis and conclusions but you are getting off track
Gothmog
Feb 2017
#141
Great post-real life is very different from amusing posts on an internet board
Gothmog
Feb 2017
#157
To clarify my intent...I was talking about two DIFFERENT constituencies in that post. My bad.
Ken Burch
Feb 2017
#160
If we assume we only lost because of racism or irrational hatred of Hillary,
BainsBane
Mar 2017
#167
Oh, please! BainsBane wasn't being hostile. It was being direct and blunt and not mincing words.
NurseJackie
Mar 2017
#168
That really depends on how you define the word "harm", doesn't it? Based on ...
NurseJackie
Mar 2017
#193
I accepted that Perez has won. Nothing I said in the post you just responded to was about Perez.
Ken Burch
Mar 2017
#189
I've worked on campaigns for decades. I've worked on ground game for decades
Ken Burch
Mar 2017
#177
tbh I don't want to make this about this singular issue because it's a side track..
JHan
Mar 2017
#198
After you have worked on some campaigns in the real world, things look differently
Gothmog
Mar 2017
#188
Again, after you have worked on some campaigns in the real world you will have a different viewpoint
Gothmog
Mar 2017
#194
Thanks for posting this. These are ideas and observations that have been swirling in my brain ...
NurseJackie
Mar 2017
#181
+1, Alan Dershowitz shown what a petty little man he was when he injected his rhetoric into this
ck4829
Feb 2017
#150
I have heard that Tom and Keith are friends and the deputy move was in the works no matter who won
Gothmog
Feb 2017
#79
But Perez is the one in charge, right? Deputy chair is not a "co-chair" with equal powers and ...
NurseJackie
Feb 2017
#114
I've got a great idea: If you like Keith, then pay attention to what he advocates, and do it!
NBachers
Feb 2017
#111
I thought Perez did the right thing, they're both progressive and both sincere.
BeckyDem
Feb 2017
#117