Full disclosure — I thought Bernie Sanders would have been a MUCH better candidate to this election cycle. That being said, this is not a troll article, and this is not designed to re-litigate the primaries, or stir up any kind of contention. I do suspect, that many will not be happy with it though. I’m simply going to state what was reported, then offer a little opinion. However, I did make the title click bait so you would read it. Please forgive me. Also, although I have lurked around this site since the ACA debates, I only recently signed up to contribute.
By now, you must have heard or read that Tom Perez has asked for the resignation letters of all DNC staffers. This in itself is not surprising. Most new management wants to bring in it’s own people or re-evaluate the talent that it will be overseeing. That’s a given. What struck me as interesting, and what NBC News is reporting, is that before Perez did this, he had a meeting with Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, and Keith Ellison:
Earlier this month, Perez held a meeting to discuss the issue with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sanders, both of whom supported Rep. Keith Ellison in the DNC chair race.
Schumer, pointing to Ellison and Sanders, told Perez, "If he's happy, and if he's happy, then I'm happy," according to two sources.
(Emphasis mine)
“Pointing to Ellison and Sanders”. WOW! Recently, Nancy Pelosi was asked who the leader of the Democratic Party is, and she named Obama and Clinton when Anderson Cooper pressed her on it. He then reminded her that under their watch, Democrats have been devastated across the country electorally. Obama has been on vacation, and Hillary has not been as busy as many would have liked her to be. She’s tweeted a few things out, but largely has remained out of the spotlight since the election. Meanwhile, Bernie is out doing town halls with MSNBC. He’s out marching with unions. And he’s doing all of this in RED states. He was given the Chair of the Democratic Senate Outreach Committee, and he has literally ran with that.
Chuck Schumer wants to stay in power. He’s not an idiot. He saw that while having mega-donors got them a lot of money, it didn’t get them a lot of results. Chuck. Schumer. This is the same guy who took millions in contributions from banks, investment firms, and defense contractors. He’s now telling the leader of the DNC to get behind the guy that, in a perfect world, will eliminate these donors and all the sweet, sweet, cash, lavish trips, and gifts.
This, to me, signals that more of a grassroots push will be taking place. Who had the best grassroots support during this past election cycle? Bernie. Who’s out taking the lead and showing that progressive policies can be pushed everywhere? Bernie. Who gets young people the most excited and beside themselves when talking about their policies? Bernie.
Ladies and gentleman, your new leader of the Democratic Party: