"Weak, Whiny, and Invisible" Critics of DNC Chair Ken Martin Savage His Tenure
It hasn't seemed that the DNC has been highly effective for quite some time. The last chairman, Jaime Harrison, got the position as a consolation prize for losing an election to Lindsay Graham, and I really couldn't figure out why, or how, that happened. Democrats did manage to pull off the 2020 election, bigger at the Presidential level than on the congressional level, which seemed to be a little disappointing, but then, the surprise came in 2022, when the GOP just didn't make the shifts happen according to long standing tradition regarding the party in power and the mid-term elections.
But how much of a factor was the DNC in that 2022 election? Looking back at what the media was saying, Harrison and the DNC are rarely mentioned. And looking at how some of those house races went, Democrats might have been able to hold the house as well, if the DNC had made a better and more coordinated effort.
I keep hearing that Democrats have trouble with messaging, and with controlling the narrative. That's my observation, from a purely amateur perspective, but it seems to match up pretty well with what the political experts and the analysts are saying. We seem to do a really good job of shooting ourselves in the foot right at the moments when we need to be the strongest, and clearest, and the most focused on what we are doing.
I'm already weary of deleting emails and text messages from Democrats raising money for their mid-term re-elections. It's June, those elections are 17 months away, and we have no coordinated, unifying presence in social media, in the media, or in Congress. Neither the DNC nor any specific political campaign had much to do with millions of people turning out for protests that have been pretty regular since the convicted felon was elected, and are getting much larger. The focus is on raising money for "me". I keep hearing from them that Trump is an existential threat to American democracy, and seeing fingers pointed at what he is doing, but I don't see anyone actually doing anything that I'd call meaningful or effective to stop him now.
We had four years. And we didn't do anything meaningful or effective to stop him then, either.
Wasn't Ken Martin Supposed to be the Best Choice Because of His Effectiveness in Minnesota Democratic Politics?
I actually paid attention, when the announcement was made, that Martin was chosen as DNC Chair. He did have a record of effectiveness in Minnesota Democratic party politics, and Minnesota has been one of the brightest places in the country as far as Democrats are concerned. He had experience and he had achieved success. So we elected him.
And we elected David Hogg at the same time. From Hogg, we got a fair evaluation of the state of the party and of the DNC, which polling data has proven to be right on target. With a 26% approval rating in Congress, Democrats have some issues to deal with, and Hogg correctly perceived, again with the help of polling data, that changes in leadership were necessary. Well, that can be checked out, and verified. This Reuters poll, reports Common Dreams, has found that 62% of Democrats are giving thought to the fact that the party needs new leadership.
The DNC's response to that was typical of the way it often responds to everything. A "rules problem" was found, requiring Hogg to run for re-election to his position just a few months after he had already done so. Yeah, so we know how these things work. He declined, to focus his attention on a highly successful endeavor that is resonating with the majority of Democrats, and that is the need for new party leadership.
It appears he took a significant amount of what was new interest in the DNC with him, leaving the moribund, ineffective organization to itself, and to the sharp criticism of being a do-nothing now levelled at Ken Martin.
The Choices are Simple: Unite, Become Aggressive and Focused on Fighting Trump, the Existential Threat to American Democracy, or Preserving the Old Guard's Turf and Tradition and Letting Democracy Go
A lot of Democrats are frustrated by a party leadership that seems to always be a day late and a dollar short. We lost a Presidential election by less than 2 percentage points, that shrinks down to less than 200,000 votes across three swing states, because the party leadership wouldn't dare convince President Biden not to run again a year earlier, when a primary campaign might have made all the difference in the world. We squandered a lot of internal support with weeks of bickering after the debate, waiting for Biden to decide, and showing just how much more influence billionaire donors had than the rank and file did.
The occasional fired up, angry speech in Congress isn't going to cut it when it comes to stopping Trump. Making excuses, that we just don't have the power right now, is not going to cut it either. We were promised things would be different at the DNC, by Ken Martin, the guy who had the experience and know-how to run the place. They were going to come out with a "War Room," an aggressive means of fighting back and making sure the Democratic party stays on its message, that Trump is a threat to democracy and pointing to everything he is doing that threatens it.
We're waiting.
What we have is that the more effective, progressive voice who was pointing to the problem that Democrats were resonating with, was pushed out of the DNC. And the status quo of a moribund organization has remained in position of leadership.
I guess that some of the participants in the "No Kings" marches and protests, and the resistance movements that have happened so far are Democrats, but it doesn't look like there are very many Democrats in Washington who are part of this movement. In the states, yes, governors and legislators have been extremely active. Our governor, J. B. Pritzker, has been extremely active in helping protests have access to everything they need and he's been out there. I give our Senator Duckworth a lot of credit for her direct calling out and confronting Hegseth's incompetence.
A Solution for Democrats to Save American Democracy
It might be campaign rhetoric to them, a catchy slogan to smear the other side. But Trump, a convicted felon, legitimately indicted for a set of serious crimes against the people of the United States, beat an incompetent, slow, inept justice system and escaped justice to become the greatest threat to the Constitutional Democracy that is the American Republic. And while too much damage may already have been done, and the means to fix the problem, which includes a well-educated electorate and united opposition, may no longer exist, Democrats have to stop just talking about it and actually try to do something about it.
They are being called on to do more than just protect their own turf, raise their own funds and run for re-election with the hope that old line political wisdom about mid-term elections kicks in automatically. They are being called on to do something effective on behalf ot the American people, to stop the takeover of the United States by a godless dictator.
That means being on task, staying on message, taking some political risks and making some bold political moves. That's a lot harder now than it was back in 2020 when we controlled both houses. We need to do our best on election day to make sure Trump sees that day as the effective end of his Presidency and his MAGA movement. That means a lot of leaders are either going to have to wake themselves up and get a move on it, or step down and let someone else do it. And we alreadyhave a good idea of who most of those are.
So the question is, are we up for the job?
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