Tom Sullivan, Hullabaloo: Back to Comfy Chairs
Why I keep saying the donkey is dead. The Democratic Party does not yet (a month after the election) have strong resistant leadership to face down the Trump juggernaut.
And Obama absolutely dare not be that leadership, which would enable the launching of a race conflict. If you think frustrating the Electoral College anointment of Trump is dangerous, actual Democratic Party resistance (Neera Tanden’s hyperbole notwithstanding) would bring down massive suppression and Obama leading the charge would be call forth incendiary actions from the paramilitary right.
But so far the choices for DNC chair are comfy, argues Tom Sullivan.
North Carolina Democrats will be electing a new state chair about the same time the national party elects a new leader for the DNC. Even in the face of what happened this week, there will be an inclination among party regulars of Jim Hunt vintage to back a safe choice, someone not too radical or confrontational, someone who won’t ruffle any feathers among establishment members or drive off regular donors — as if the party still has something left to lose.
Expect the same dynamic to play out in the race for DNC chair. Howard Dean was once the crazy radical who if elected DNC chair would ruin everything. Instead, he brought to the party a model for raising online millions from small-dollar donors and a 50-state plan that helped Democrats win in districts that had not had seen assistance from the DNC in years. Those helped turn 2006 into a big pickup year for Democrats and paved the way for Barack Obama’s win in 2008. Then Democrats went right back to their comfy chairs. Dean was out. Wasserman Schultz was in.
Do you see the aggressive new leadership that is needed to revive the donkey? I don’t; too many old hacks lasted too long in their positions. Especially in North Carolina if we are getting nostalgic about the Jim Hunt era.
