Abstract

DNC Makeover Time

The article looks at changes being made within the Democratic political party in the United States. Democrats have to shake off the postelection blues -and begin agitating among themselves to create a very different party. The first challenge is the selection of a new chair to lead the Democratic National Committee (DNC). If you think the present party apparat did a great job in November 2004, consider the following: How was it that, when 52 percent of Americans believed the war in Iraq was going badly, Democrats ended up with a candidate who could not make a convincing case to change the Commander in Chief? How was it that, when even Warren Buffett says U.S. trade deficits have entered the danger zone, Democrats ended up with a candidate who could not hang misguided free-trade policies around President George W. Bush's neck? How was it that, even as Democrats won major breakthroughs in Western states, their presidential candidate lost the entire Rocky Mountain West? We urge the DNC members to choose an outsider as their next chair.