Perez and Sanders Not Headed in the Same Direction

Like many of us, for me every day brings on one form or another of Trump-Induced-Depression (TID). But watching the DNC trying to be at the forefront of the opposition to Trump only compounds my fear and fatalism about the future.

Case in point is the so-called Unity Tour that Tom Perez and Bernie Sanders are just wrapping up. They were the Odd Couple — Bernie pounded on the themes that have made him the most popular politician in the USA: Medicare for All; a $15 minimum wage; tuition-free state colleges; breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks and policing Wall Street, etc.

Meanwhile, DNC Chair Tom Perez, despite all the fiery and colorful anti-Trump rhetoric, cannot manage to articulate positive reasons for voters to return to the Democratic fold beyond the usual bromides about “hope” and “inclusiveness”, and how horrible Trump is. I don’t think Keith Ellison would have had any problem articulating compelling reasons to vote Democratic.

At several of the first stops on their tour Perez was booed and Sanders got standing ovations — on the later stops I think things smoothed out a bit better, but the pattern was clear: Perez was the non-commital warm-up act for Sanders, who then knocked it out of the park.

At the outset of the tour last week they appeared together on All In with Chris Hayes and it was an excruciating 10 minutes that nearly made me weep. The interview starts at the 40 second mark:

As is his habit, Bernie Sanders hammered on the themes he ran on — clear, concise, and specific. Perez, on the other hand, talked about how Democrats win when they focus on opportunity and inclusiveness, in other words, broad sweeping generalities that identify no problems and offend no one. “Health care is a right and not a privilege” (what does that mean in terms of public option/single payer?)

About 6 minutes in Hayes tries to get Perez to get more specific and pointed, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t stray from the bland optimistic script and it was such a stark contrast that Hayes himself had to interrupt and say this is basically what Hillary said, and it wasn’t enough. At that point Perez retreated into Trump-bashing.

This interview was emblematic of the disfunctionality of the national Democrats. It makes my blood boil because while Trump is ruining the USA both at home and in his sad excuse for a foreign policy, the national Democratic power structure is putzing around trying to have it both ways with only 19 months until the mid-term elections. They are not doing what they need to do to win, and this unity tour just made that obvious.

It’s going to take more than Perez’ swear words to convince people that the Democratic Party will go to the mat for the changes desperately needed to support the middle class. We are waiting...