Full disclosure: I supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries with my vote and my wallet and I repeated that in the general election.
After losing the 2016 presidential election and wandering off for her literal walk in the woods, Hillary Clinton left a huge vacuum in the structure of the Democratic Party. One that hasn’t been filled yet. Senator Bernie Sanders apparently lost interest and drifted off. Senator Elizabeth Warren shows some warmth but she isn’t setting the place on fire. The new leadership of the Democratic National Committee, Chairman Tom Perez and Vice-Chair Keith Ellison are working as hard as they can. At some point their efforts may start to yield fruit…but they need room to work.
And there are a number of other grass root movements like Indivisible and the various Resist groups whose voices are growing. We’ve had marches and protests that have garnered serious press and serious attention in Washington. They’ve invigorated hundreds of thousands of Americans and they shouldn’t be co-opted or stifled in any way, shape, or form and allowed to organically develop however their membership decides.
So having Ms. Clinton re-appear on the scene and announce her new organization: Onwardtogether.org, takes the wind out of everybody else’s sails. I don’t begrudge her her success but she can’t distract the limited resources available away from the other groups and candidates. Even though her initial goal is fundraising for these grass root groups and training candidates…it doesn’t need to be done this way.
At this point the Democratic Party needs younger leaders…new voices…renewed energy…and a new vision. And yes I wish we could have elected her in 2016…but we didn’t. So she should finish her book…do the book tour…do the interviews…do the speeches…but leave active politics behind. She helped get us where we are but she can’t get us where we need to go.
“the Democratic Party needs….a new vision?”
I’m interested. What would that new vision look like Ed?
Standing for working people for one thing. I’ve made my feelings on Democrats abandoning working people and labor unions (except when they want union money/support) well known….Democrats won’t be viable if they continue to be nothing more than the party of “Republican lite.”
Hillary clinton needs to go away! We did not vote for her, we do not like her amd her policies and lies! Her arrogant responses such as “what difference does it make” and “like with a cloth” showed her contempt for us and she considers us all stupid!
Excuse me for asking, Ed, but who won the popular vote?
There’s no denying Hillary won the popular vote, but Ed’s point remains. Hillary made a number of very critical errors in her campaign (such as never once stopping in WI during the campaign) and it’s time for someone else to lead the party.
I don’t presume to know who that someone is, but if Democrats are going to rely on Hillary Clinton to lead the party for the next few years then they’re doomed.
The timeline is what puts all our comments into context. My say is 11/12/17 (glad the Packers won), yet there are true real grievences that Sanders-esque folks have with the way it’s all been treated up till now, and we as Dems are facing a real crisis.
Losing some 1000 state legislator seats since 2008 is no leadership we should have to follow. While I like D’s to win elections, it does not help us if those we elect are further corporate/neoliberal suits.
Hillary and Nancy and the Chuckster can still be Dems–if they start acting like it–but otherwise they should stop doing what they’re doing as corporate hacks. I mean, Ronald Reagan used to call himself a Dem…and Thatcher said her favorite President was Harry Truman. We’ve known this for a long time, yet what do we as Dem voters do about it?
So, Duane12, you shell out $125 for a ticket to Hillary’s “What Happened?” book tour tonight? I heard it will be standing room only as the Riverside will be filled with sycophants paying to be lied to…again.