With Obama becoming a public citizen on January 20th, the Democratic Party will lose a leader. Who will drive the Democratic party forward and into the future?
It's going to be a long four years and there most likely will not be true front runners for the presidential race in 2020, but there is another position that needs to be filled sooner than later, if the Democrats are going to reboot after the November loss. If you remember, Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz relinquished her post as Democratic Party chief in July after hacked documents showed the organization tilting toward Clinton in her nomination campaign against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Who may be a good candidate for the head of the Democratic National Committee? How about a gay mayor from Indiana, Pete Buttigieg.
of The Indy Star reports:
As mayor, Buttigieg told me, “You can’t pull the wool over people’s eyes; the streets either got plowed or they didn’t. You can’t debate that. You are immediately held accountable.” And so, he said, even in this period of political dysfunction, “It’s in the instincts of any mayor to get things done, and to be pragmatic about what it will take to move things forward.”
To the 447 Democrats who will select the next party chair, Buttigieg is making two overarching points: First, the party must base its opposition message on the experiences everyday Americans are facing, and the real-world consequences of policy decisions, such as repealing the national health care law. Second, the party must compete nationwide and not just in big cities.
“I think we have really struggled to keep in touch with this part of the country,” he said. “We need to get back to running and winning elections in all parts of the country. … We can point out the flaws of Trump all day long, and we should, but people don’t want to hear only about that. People were asking: Who is talking about me? We have to have all of our conversations based on the experiences of real people. And I think we have a very compelling case to make.” – indystar.com
Two South Bend Tribune articles from June of 2015 (Pete Buttigieg's Announcement Creates A Buzz, South Bend Mayor: Why Coming Out Matters ) highlight when the Mayor became the first openly gay executive in the state and the highest elected official in Indiana to come out.
Sure we can say he's gay, a mayor, and therefore we should vote for him. As smart citizens, we should know that just because someone is gay, it doesn't mean he is the best candidate. But even sources like FOX News, yes, FOX News, is saying that Buttigieg is one of the top candidates for the DNC position. Here's their case for placing him at the head of the pack.
INDIANAPOLIS – A little-known mayor from Indiana on Thursday joined a crowded field of candidates seeking to become the next head of the Democratic National Committee.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is barely known outside northern Indiana, but he brings a distinctive resume to the campaign as a Rhodes scholar who served a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 as a Naval Reserve officer. He gained attention last year when he announced he was gay in a newspaper column, five months before he won election to a second term with 80 percent of the vote.
Buttigieg is casting himself as an outsider in the chairman's race, which includes Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison among five other candidates.
Buttigieg, 34, said he believes the DNC needs fresh leadership and a greater focus on state and local parties after many years of election losses at those levels.
"Traditionally, that's been a strength of the Democratic Party, but we need to get back to that," he said. – foxnews.com
Others who are seeking to lead the DNC are New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Ray Buckley, Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director Sally Boynton Brown and South Carolina Party Chairman Jaime Harrison. Ellison and Perez are considered front-runners; DNC members vote in February.
Let the best Democrat win!
h/t: foxnews.com, indystar.com
Here are the words of four
Here are the words of four 2016 South Carolina Congressional Candidates who say, "Do NOT elect Jaime Harrison as DNC Chair":
We call ourselves the SC Blue Brothers​. … We believe our experience will help inform the DNC's decision to elect a new Chair.
Should a state party Chair who hasn’t succeeded, who hasn’t secured ballot victories, who prefers empty ballots to experimental candidacies, be promoted to run an even larger party organization like the DNC? We four congressional candidates think not.
We collectively think Jaime Harrison’s tenure as SCDP Chair has been a failure. SCDP Chair Harrison failed to create and implement a 46-county strategy in South Carolina. How could he possibly orchestrate a 50-state strategy across our Union?
Our tireless efforts in the campaign trenches have taught us that it is time to return the Democratic Party back to its working class roots and into the hands of one who will capably develop and coordinate a 50-state strategy. We wish Mr. Harrison future success in whatever career path he chooses, but we expressly do not support his campaign as DNC Chair.