Many Democrats I like very much made a mistake and continue to make a mistake by making the DNC job

[La Lioness Priyanka]

sound like more than it actually is.

I include my mayor Bill De Blasio in this list, but also whomever started endorsing people publicly right from the get go.

Reince Preibus was the head of the RNC and he is hardly the face of the GOP. The head of the DNC is a bureaucrat who makes decisions about where to put money in, how to fund raise, and how to support local races and local chapters.

This was a huge mistake making this about popularity contest between two wings of the party.

I really wish they had not done it.

Also really wish O'malley hadn't been pressured into dropping out.

[riversedge]

1. Unfortuately, I think this 'two wings' contest evolved over the last few months. I do not

think it was intended.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. i think it was predictable.

[riversedge]

20. Agree--given the recent history of the past year.

[KittyWampus]

2. Also, there are more than 2 wings of the party. People mistakenly lump Obama and Clinton together.

Obama came up in the Senate with support from Kerry and Kennedy.

He put Clinton people in certain spots presumably as part of his whole "team of rivals" thing.

People seem to equate Perez with a "Clinton faction" and that just isn't so.

I have a cold so this may not be all that well thought out. But those who want to just make a sketch of two wings with Clinton-Sanders as the opposite ends are not seeing the reality of Democratic politics, IMO.

[JI7]

4. yes. perez support is mainly Obama people. the Clinton people actually seem more split

And even more ellison than perez when you look at ny .

After all it was the Obama admin people that told him to run.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. i can speak for myself, my belief in obama extends to Perez

i don't think any of this for me has to do with support of Hillary.

[KittyWampus]

9. There seems to be an effort to keep "primary wars" going and that extends to any situation

that can possibly be massaged into that role.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. yes, and leaders of our party aided that.

[geek tragedy]

12. funny thing is, I loved Obama as President and viewed either Clinton or Sanders as a step down.

But, as a party leader and builder, his legacy is not looking very good these days. Numbers speak for themselves.

[KittyWampus]

19. IMO, that goes back to putting Clinton-circle Dems to head the DNC. IMO, this was done to help her

get the nomination. And it did. But ultimately at great cost to our party infrastructure.

The head of the DNC has no business being a political plum handed out like an ambassadorship.

You are spot on about Obama as a party leader/builder. It's a tough truth and I hope future Democratic leadership learns from it.

It's good to have a team of rivals but not at the cost of having an open party with opportunities for those who truly earn a chance at the brass ring.

That is my opinion. Those who insist on alerting my posts need to get over the fact that BOTH Clinton and Sanders as well as Obama are open to critiques.

[geek tragedy]

21. I don't think DWS was put there to help anyone get elected or nominated.

She sure as shit wouldn't have been able to help someone if she tried. God she was a train wreck.

OFA may have turned out to be a mistake--it may have cannibalized people who might otherwise have joined the party.

I'm a huge Obama fan as President, but I see Perez's status as the holder of the Obama legacy to be a negative in the context of a party-building position.

And I don't want to sound like I'm down on Perez in general--I think he's MUCH better suited to running for office as a Governor in Maryland and developing from there. Just the wrong skill set/background for this position.

[KittyWampus]

25. Well, Obama pre-Senate was an Community Organizer. Perez is less about President Obama

and more about Barack Obama. That is just my opinion.

And I sure can't argue about it to any extent. In the end we aren't voting.

Sure hope who ever gets in calls Howard Dean for some tips and turns things around.

[geek tragedy]

30. agreed on the last two points nt

[BannonsLiver]

24. he had a lot on his plate

Ive always felt too much was foisted on Obama. The idea that he could be everything for the party and run the country is not realistic. Not with what he inherited and not with what he dealt with for 8 years.

Unfortunately, what played out was a bunch of otherwise bright, capable people stood around for 8 years waiting for him to fix everything for them. He also made some mistakes along the way, like DWS.

By the way the next Dem president will likely find themselves in the same situation when this shit show is over. A million problems on their plate and only 24 hours in a day. I expect that like Obama that person will prioritize running the country over party issues.

[geek tragedy]

27. I really don't want to come off as being down on him, I want his face on Mt Rushmore.

But, nobody's perfect and this isn't an area where "stay the course" is a good idea.

We've kept the same leadership in Congress, and now we're supposed to keep the same people at the DNC?

When do the Democrats send a signal that they realize they need to shake things up?

[BannonsLiver]

28. I don't disagree

And DWS was a major mistake. I don't want to minimize that. She was ineffective, and worse, she was divisive.

FWIW, I voted for Buttigeig in the other thread.

[geek tragedy]

3. yeah, it's a non-ideological position.

Not much ideological space between the top two candidates.

I still haven't seen a compelling argument as to why Perez, who has never run a meaningful election in his life, makes sense as DNC head. He makes sense as a candidate for governor in MD, but makes zero sense as someone helping others win elections until he shows that he knows how.

[KittyWampus]

6. WTF? He was United States Secretary of Labor. Head of a large organization

which is what the DNC is.

[geek tragedy]

8. It's a position that requires knowing how to win elections, recruit candidates, and

organize at the grassroots level, as well as strategizing across the entire country.

Being a high level bureaucrat doesn't qualify someone to do that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. neither does running your own campaign. running your own campaign doesn't make you any better

at spotting and grooming talent or encouraging others to run

[KittyWampus]

14. The DNC does not recruit candidates. That is done at the local level.

[geek tragedy]

17. recruiting house candidates is most certainly something the national party does.

And coordinating a national strategy is also part of the job.

Perez can probably make sure payroll is processed accordingly and that all of the office space leases are up to snuff, but what insight does he have on the business of the DNC--winning elections?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. perez is successful at overseeing a large organization, ellison has never done that

a congressional election victory is nothing like running the DNC.

he ran the civil rights division, and a DNC chair who is practiced at battling voter suppression is one we very much need

Perez was not in charge of payroll at labor, he ran the organization. you are grossly underselling his work. his strategic work at labor, gave the democrats a number of policy wins including expand overtime, sick leave, and collecting back pay for workers.

he has proven success at running a large bureaucracy with positive results, ellison does not.

[geek tragedy]

26. DNC isn't a large bureaucracy, and if anything it should be less centralized

Fighting vote suppression is a lawyer's job, not a strategist's

Perez is out of his element when it comes to electoral politics. He's a governing guy, not an elections guy.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. ok. but nothing in ellison's career points me to resounding experience in this role either

i actually really want to hand this to a third person who is not tainted with stupid dumbfuck labels like establishment and non-establishment

[geek tragedy]

32. I'm not sure Ellison would be my first choice of all possible options either.

I'd prefer someone with experience in winning elections where it was necessary to win over swing voters.

I'd say Sherrod Brown but we need him exactly where he is.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

33. martin o'malley or a return of howard dean

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. the DNC does not run elections. Perez has run a large bureau and that is really the skill needed

Perez has worked on voter disenfranchisement which is the single biggest issue for democrats losing, hence he has far more to offer than Ellison.

[geek tragedy]

15. it's not an administrative job, it's a strategic one.

the DNC head has one job--help other Democrats win elections.

Perez knows literally nothing about how to win elections. He never ran someone else's campaign, only ran one county level campaign in deep blue Maryland suburbs.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. ellison has no idea either how to help others win. he knows how he won himself

and that's not the exact same skill.

just being elected into office doesn't help you organize broader strategies either.

i mean he might have the skill, but his past job is not the reason he has the skill.

[geek tragedy]

18. Every candidate is his/her own chief strategist.

And his/her own chief fundraiser. Etc.

Candidates have to hire effective field organizers, develop a coherent message, etc.

If you had to hire a baseball pitching coach, would you consider someone who never threw a baseball in their life?

[BeckyDem]

23. Why can't they work together? I don't like the division either, we have seen more than

enough of that. If Perez wins he works on it full time but has input from Ellison?

I think O'Malley could win in 2020, his message was unifying, I thought. But as important, we need to be ready to win as many seats in 2018.

[Progressive dog]

29. I agree

but I'd like to add that I would like whoever gets the job to make it their only job.

[fun n serious]

34. I'm ok with all of them except Bernie.

I love Obama, Hillary, Perez, Ellison, Kerry, Kennedy. I do not like Bernie and I do not particularly care for DWS.

[Blue_Tires]

35. Well for reasons only god knows

1. Certain folks haven't bothered to read up on exactly what the DNC does...

2. Certain folks are hellbent on making this the "Revenge of the 2016 Primaries"

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. Yup.