The good news, from the perspective of the Democratic Party, is that it avoided having Keith Ellison, who has ties to the Nation of Islam, as the chair of the Democratic National Committee. The bad news, from the perspective of everyone else, especially people who write about politics, is that the Democrats have one less reason to become unglued. tom perez, the man who got the unenviable job, was President Obama’s labor secretary and is considered establishment, as much as such could describe any Democratic official.
Party unity may be hard for Perez to manage.
Ellison was supported by a lot of Bernie Sanders acolytes, who took his defeat as yet another sign that the game was rigged against them. Perez won by getting the endorsements of a lot of Obama people, who have morphed from the hope and change revolutionaries of 2008 to the stodgy establishment of 2017 who have left the Democratic Party in ruins after eight years of epic electoral defeats.
Perez’s first task is to try to get the Democrats in some position to be competitive for 2018. That task also will not be easy. The Democrats are defending far more seats than are Republicans in the Senate. Moreover, the radical wing of the party is threatening to primary Democratic legislators whom they deem to be insufficiently anti-Trump.
That aggressive approach is bound to provide headaches for red state Democrats, many of who have constituencies who fervently support the president. The situation is a prescription for another election bloodbath for the Democrats and increased congressional majorities for Republicans after 2018.
Democrats hope to make Trump a one term president.
The party has a number of candidates who might run, but no one who is both charismatic and not scary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is a favorite of the radical wing. But she first has to be reelected to the Senate, which may be difficult considering that the numbers are not as good as they could be. A Democrat who is in trouble in Massachusetts is not someone who is likely to make it nationally. A Democrat from Massachusetts period would have a hard time getting anywhere.
President Trump, by the way, tweeted a tongue in cheek congratulations to Perez. The tweet was not a good sign.
