Sometimes
a party’s leader seems to symbolize an enduring malaise. For
Democrats in 2018, that institutional leader is Tom Perez.
While
serving as secretary of labor during President Obama’s second term,
Perez gained a reputation as an advocate for workers and civil
rights. That image may have helped him win a narrow election among
Democratic leaders to become chair of the Democratic National
Committee, with the backing of Hillary Clinton loyalists eager to
prevent the top DNC job from going to Bernie Sanders supporter Rep.
Keith Ellison.
Perez’s
leadership of the DNC during the last 11 months has been mediocre at
best. The problems go far beyond administrative failings, lack of
inspirational impacts or shortcomings in fundraising. His mode of
using progressive rhetoric while purging progressives from key DNC
committees reflected a pattern.
At the
top of the DNC, the Clinton wing’s determination to keep the
progressive base at arm’s length has not abated — while, at the
same time, the DNC proclaims its commitment to the progressive base.
The contradiction exists because of Democratic Party priorities
revolving around corporate power.
To align
the DNC with a grassroots base that is notably more progressive and
has enormous energy to challenge Wall Street and the oligarchy, it
would be necessary to welcome that energy instead of trying to keep
it at bay.
Rhetoric
aside, the DNC leadership is hardly oriented to challenging the
corporate domination that imposes so much economic injustice. Some
disturbing indicators of the current chair’s orientation can be
found in his Obama-era record as an assistant attorney general as
well as head of the Labor Department.
“Before
Tom Perez was Labor Secretary granting waivers to indicted banks, he
was at the Justice Department not prosecuting Steve Mnuchin for
illegally foreclosing on active duty troops,” financial specialist
Matt Stoller pointed out in a recent tweet.
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