Democratic National Committee chair tom perez has accepted a teaching job at Brown University. Perez will lead a study group called 'Governance and Leadership in Challenging Times,' as a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. The DNC chair will be, "sharing insight and knowledge gained from the years he served as a member of President Obama’s administration." Perez served during Obama's second term, as Secretary of Labor.

Humming a different tune

This news comes just seven months after Perez's victory over Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison for DNC chair.

Establishment Democrats pulled out every stop to keep Ellison away from the position. While campaigning, Perez criticized Ellison for running while serving as an active representative, calling the chair a full-time job. In a show of commitment to the job Ellison so much as vowed to resign from office if he won.

The job must not be as demanding as Perez gave it credit for. Just seven months into a tumultuous uphill battle as chair, Perez is already branching out. You would think the DNC was a well-oiled machine sailing smoothly. However, this is far from being the case.

Mixed up priorities

Perez has taken over a Democratic Party in a deep hole. He has failed to mend differences between the progressive left wing of the party and the centrist establishment cloth he was cut from.

Kicking off his DNC reign touring the country with Bernie Sanders, the so-called 'unity tour' was embarrassingly unsuccessful for Perez, whose name elicited boos along the way from crowds that showed up mainly in support of the Senator.

Additionally, the party is having an abysmal 2017 when it comes to fundraising. The DNC had its worst April in fundraising since 2009, and their worst July in a decade.

The party is hemorrhaging money as well. When Perez took office the DNC had over $10 million. Today they have less than $7 million with $3.4 million in debt. In comparison, the RNC has over $47 million, raising over $9 million a month every month this year, with no debt.

Imagine the board of directors hires a new CEO to save their sinking business.

Then, months in, with little to no results, that CEO announces they'll be taking a second job. There is no logical reason for Perez to take this position, other than blind self-interest. At the rate the DNC is going, a fight to take control of Congress in 2018 is a pipe dream. The DNC chair's attention must be fully placed on the battle for House and Senate seats.

A messaging problem

In the wake of the 2016 election, Perez and the DNC has failed to deliver a clear message to voters, only hurting their fundraising and 2018 prospects. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper following his victory, Perez was asked how the Democratic Party could win back working-class voters who overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump.

Perez failed to name a single concrete idea to appeal to the average American worker. Instead, he refused to veer from a talking point of 'leading with our values'. It isn't a secret: this kind of virtue signaling was a disaster for Democrats in 2016. Perhaps the Democrats wouldn't have such a fundraising problem if they actually gave people a cause to donate to instead of more empty platitudes.

Failure to move on, failure to act

In July The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out an email of potential new slogans for the Democrats going into 2018. They mostly referenced Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 presidential bid. The most pathetic of all however stated, "I mean, have you seen the other guys?" Yes, Democrats, Americans have seen the other guys -- and they voted for them!

Get over Hillary, get over what your opponent is doing, and start fighting for something.

Perez and the DNC's only clear message is that they have not learned from the success of the populist platforms in 2016. This is a party that's lost over 1,000 seats in the last decade, has only $3.4 million in net cash, and is viewed as out of touch by 2/3 of the country. There is a palpable lack of urgency at the top of Democratic Party. There's no time for self-serving side gigs.
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