Budowsky: Ellison, Kerry to DNC?

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), to his credit, surprised the political establishment and endorsed Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Schumer’s move suggests that he understands the future of the party lies in motivating and exciting the broad grassroots coalition that has led Democrats to historic victories.

I am not yet ready to support Ellison for the DNC post but am friendly to his candidacy and the candidacy of the Howard Dean, who propose a paradigm of progressive populism and aggressive mobilization of small donors, grassroots organizing and social media.

{mosads}Democrats should pursue a bold strategy for the DNC that also includes a new position of chairman emeritus that would be held by a national figure of presidential stature, such as Secretary of State John Kerry, who would be a powerful and principled voice of loyal opposition on matters foreign and domestic.

Democrats must have a cold, clear-eyed understanding of what went right, and wrong, in the 2016 elections.

What went right is that Hillary Clinton won some 2 million more popular votes than Donald Trump for president. Democrats won a majority of popular votes in Senate elections. Democrats gained seats in the Senate and House. For those who believe in one person, one vote, Democrats have a stronger case than Republicans to claim a popular mandate from voters in 2016.

What went wrong for Democrats is that the Obama presidency was a historic disaster for Democrats, while Clinton inexcusably wrote off and unknowingly insulted whole classes of voters in swing states.

After the eight-year presidency of Obama, Democrats lost the presidency, the House, the Senate, governorships, state legislatures and what should have been a progressive majority on the Supreme Court.  America’s first black president left a legacy of a depressed turnout of black and young voters that gravely damaged all Democrats in crucial states.

Clinton, as I argued before and after Election Day, ran a campaign with an almost entirely negative message and a strategy that ignored and discarded working-class white and Catholic voters. Ultimately, the Democrat who would have been the first female president lost millions of votes from women without college degrees, who would have benefited from a Clinton presidency, to a Republican who repeatedly offended women.

How did this happen?  In 2011 I wrote a column titled “Obama is not RFK.” In 2016 I wrote a column titled “Clinton needs a Kennedy moment.” My point was that Democrats win when they are seen as fighting for economic betterment of white working-class and minority voters who have the same economic interests based on income and class, regardless of race. Obama and Clinton failed this test. Democrats lost key states and surrendered control, for now, of all branches of government.

The right DNC chair will spearhead a cross-cutting outreach that mobilizes base voters with the passionate progressivism of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and appeals to white working-class voters with the focus and intensity that defined the 2016 Democratic platform, the politics of the Kennedys and the teachings of Pope Francis.

I hope Ellison aggressively appeals to white working-class voters on common economic interests, as Sanders did, which will be a major factor in determining whether he becomes DNC chairman.

A DNC chairman emeritus such as Kerry would bring vast experience, stature, credibility, national clout and global statesmanship in opposition to Trump.

The DNC should spearhead an unprecedented talent search for next generation Democratic leaders at all levels and remind voters that Trump has no mandate to be the president of crony capitalists, conflicts of interests and oligarchs whose influence he hypocritically condemned in the campaign.

A revitalized DNC should bring back the national party midterm convention during the Summer of 2017.  It would showcase new candidates and leaders, issue a powerful statement of political principles, rally the party base and appeal to swing voters to begin a great Democratic comeback. 

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Contributors blog and reached atbrentbbi@webtv.net.