Is "open up the party to working people" really code for

[pnwmom]

"open up the party to white working people?"

Because black and brown working people, men and women, are the bulwark of the Democratic party.

And the new DNC chair is a Latino who most recently was the Secretary of Labor. No one, not even a Senator from a 95% white, rural state, needs to tell that Democratic Secretary of LABOR how to stand up for labor.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/why-tom-perez-strong-competitor-against-keith-ellison-democratic-party

After taking charge of the Labor Department in 2013, Perez fired up that agency. As Politico noted,

It was one of the federal government's sleepier outposts for most of the dozen years that preceded Perez's arrival just over one year ago. But Labor has been newly energized under Perez.

"Enforcement activity is up," Alfred Robinson Jr., who was an acting wage and hour administrator for the Labor Department during the George W. Bush administration, noted earlier this month in a blog post. The department has also raised its public profile on issues like minimum wage and paid medical leave and lavished favorable attention on companies that give employees what Perez calls "voice."

At the Labor Department, Perez was in charge of an organization with 17,000 employees, a multibillion-dollar budget, and offices throughout the nation. And he pocketed a number of policy wins. He expanded the overtime rule for millions of workers. He helped resolve the Verizon strike and achieved protections for Verizon's retail workers. On his watch in 2016, the department collected $266 million in back pay owed to workers. He pushed for expanded paid sick leave. The department issued a new rule to protect workers in construction and manufacturing from exposure to dangerous levels of silica dust, which can cause disease and cancer. It raised the minimum wage and and provided extended overtime protections for 2 million home health care workers. The department issued an important conflict-of-interest rule forcing retirement advisers to place clients' interests ahead of their own, an Elizabeth Warren-like measure that could save Americans billions of dollars per year.

Perez has had an impressive run at Labor, overseeing a big bureaucracy and achieving results. He has put his values into practice. Ellison has done similar as a member of Congress, mounting grassroots campaigns, raising money for Democrats across the country, and pushing pro-consumer financial reform legislation as a member of the House financial services committee. If DNCers want to send a welcoming signal to aggrieved (rightly or wrongly) Bernie-ites when they vote on February 24—and avoid possible further acrimony between Party HQ and progressive activists—Ellison is the obvious choice. But if there is more to the vote than that—and this race is removed from the never-ending conflict between the party and its progressive base—Perez is a strong contender. He is a solid progressive with a record of getting stuff done. His prospects will be shaped by whether party officials (they are the only ones who have a vote) consider this contest an act of atonement and reconciliation or a hiring decision.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-tom-perez-dnc-chairman/

Perez, 55, left the Obama administration last month after serving as labor secretary since July 2013. In that job, he helped push for new overtime rules to ensure workers get overtime pay, extended overtime protections for home care workers and extended minimum wage protections.

He also helped establish worker safety rules, and under his leadership the department provided paid sick leave and ensured employment protections for federal contractor employees, according to his biography on the department’s website.

[dogman]

1. Or code for cardcheck.

That was a time the faithful were not rewarded, and fairly recently. Unions have enough trouble collecting money from their members for the political agenda. Dropping the ball when we had the power was a mistake IMO.

[boston bean]

2. That accusation by is hsrmful to the party.

Right, Democrats aren't for working people??? Have the people saying this taken a look at the republican party? They seem more pissed at dems than they do right wingers. They have bern played snd played well.

[Fast Walker 52]

9. seriously! That accusation pisses me off.

[bettyellen]

17. Yeah- this framing is absolute shit.

[democratisphere]

3. Change "white" to "all" and you're good to go!

[pnwmom]

5. It is already opened up to all working people. So they must mean

something else when they say that.

[JI7]

4. white working class that voted trump support muslim ban and deportations

That's how democrats can win their votes.

And even better if we support stop and frisk .

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

6. Since when has the party not been open to white working class people? n/t

[pnwmom]

8. Good question. nt

[jalan48]

7. Looks like our "Indivisible" thing already has some cracks in it.

I knew it wouldn't last.

[Fast Walker 52]

10. well, Sanders isn't a Dem. Real Dems are fairly unified against Trump.

[jalan48]

14. And the millions of Dems that like Bernie Sanders?

[Hekate]

16. Need to look hard at what they're saying. When Sanders says we're not open to the "working class"

...who exactly is he talking about? Because women, blacks, Hispanics -- workers all -- voted for Hillary. And Hillary got 3,000,000 more votes than "populist" Trump.

Benedict Donald sure captured the racist vote. Now how do we go about capturing the racist vote? Just asking.

[jalan48]

21. What he's talking about is obvious.

His belief that the Party is influenced too much by big money and not enough by the needs of working class people. By the way, not only did Clinton lose, Democrats as a whole got their asses kicked all over the country. Time to get off of the divisive racist meme and unite.

[bettyellen]

20. They need to concern themselves with our civil rights too- if they can't see how we

Suffer doubly at the hands of the GOP and be true allies then they're kidding hemselves about being progressive, liberal or Dems. If they're going to vote for their wallet before my freedom they're not.

[jalan48]

23. If that's the case then we need a strategy that will help get Democrats elected.

The one we've been using doesn't work if 2016 is any indication. Reaching out to "working people" as a whole seems as good as any at this point.

[bettyellen]

24. The question is why would anyone write off Dems as not being "working people" - this is a RW meme...

And it's insulting and naive to say so. And inaccurate.

[jalan48]

28. If this is true we should control the government.

We don't because we, as working people, are not "Indivisible". We have to see what we have in common and promote one another, not tear one another down. Bernie is speaking to working people as a group, all of us, not just one color or gender.

[bettyellen]

37. Working women and POC are the fucking backbone of the party...

Pretending they don't exist or aren't important is bizarre.

[jalan48]

39. Who said they aren't important?

What we're talking about is an "Indivisible" movement for the next election-right? Why do you insist on only making it about women and POC? The message should be about all working people, as Bernie is pointing out.

[pat_k]

11. Asinine "message."

All it does is say the dem party is "closed to working people." The only time you need to "open up" to something is when you are "closed."

That message is going to be about as effective as Republicans "opening" their party to African Americans.

If this is the messaging coming from Dem leaders, we are in serious trouble.

Pelosi made a blunder too when she said DT had 'has nothing to show' for 1st month in office except 'fear.'

He did a lot more than sow fear and bigotry. He shit canned important protections. Protections that help keep our water and wildlife safe from poisons; protections that preserve civil rights in public institutions; protections that protect consumers from predatory private sector actions; protections that preserve open government. He did it all by executive order. No help from Congress needed. (And of course right-wingnuts have been busy bees over on the hill too.)

Not to mention his appointment of "leaders" to executive agencies who are hell bent rendering their respective agencies incapable of carrying out critical public sector functions.

What he has done is FAR WORSE than "nothing."

If DT had accomplished "nothing" i'd be delighted.

[pnwmom]

13. It was the message coming from an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

I haven't ever heard a Democratic leader with that message.

[pat_k]

19. Still asinine.

Bernie is often great. Sometimes he's an ass.

Some leaders are asinine more than great. For some it's the other way around. Nobody is always great. Nobody is always an ass. Even a right-wingnut like Ron Paul gets the occasional thing right (like his call for the impeachment of Bush).

[Rex]

12. Traditionally there has always been only ONE party open to the working class. Think Civil Rights.

Despite what the GOP says and does, they've never been open to the working class and always supported the plutocracy in charge of our government, churches and media. It is why they get funded more by those groups of ultra wealthy donors.

The Left side has always been about Labor. The Right side has always been about Capital. If we keep it that way and get our message out clearly, we will win back seats.

I refuse to listen to anyone about Perez until I see him in action, I think he will do great and shows every bit as much for the Labor side of policy as we need someone to represent us to be. That is the Left side we need to be, on our side leading the way. Perez will lead the way.

People that don't want to give him a chance, are not objective enough to give him one.

[X_Digger]

15. How about fewer wall-street bankers and their ilk? n/t

[pnwmom]

26. How many of those do you think the Secretary of LABOR led in his department?

How many wall street bankers was Tom Perez involved with when he was working in the civil rights division?

Get real.

[X_Digger]

30. So the whole of the DNC is coming from labor, and there are no bankers?

Epic fail.

[pnwmom]

32. The new head of the DNC is the former Secretary of Labor

and he was chosen by a vote of the DNC. They have chosen as their leader a strong progressive who has no history of aligning with wall street against labor.

[X_Digger]

40. So wall street won't be a major player in the DNC?

No Goldman Sachs board members setting policy? No Chase / HSBC / PWC board members involved?

Let me make a note of your answer so that I can come back to it in a year and we'll compare notes. Ya?

[NanceGreggs]

18. When has the Party ...

... ever been "closed" to working people?

I joined the Dem Party eons ago. I was a working person then, and always have been. If there was ever a time when the Party was "closed" to people like me, I am unaware of it.

Maybe the person promoting that idea should explain exactly when and how the Party was "closed" to anyone, therefore necessitating "opening up the Party" to them now.

[SMC22307]

22. No. It's clear-speak for WORKING PEOPLE,

not just those who can pay over six figures to have dinner with George and Amal Clooney.

My goodness, folks are really working overtime (pardon the pun) to sow division and convince us of just how really, really progressive (really! progressive!) Perez is.

[Fast Walker 52]

25. the party is "open" to working people, period

access is always a more tricky aspect of a party, but part of this is that running campaigns is really expensive and you need big donors.

Bottom line is working people have a far louder voice in the Dems than in the Repubs.

Sounds like you and Bernie are the ones sowing division.

[SMC22307]

31. Democrats fully control a measly six statehouses (an historic low)...

and more and more voters are registering as Unaffiliated rather than with either major political party. Those numbers scream "problems," so why not focus on solutions rather than me and Bernie?

These are the folks Bernie is referring to. You and everyone on this board knows that.



?itok=ZlCJT5dh

[pnwmom]

33. Why can't Bernie focus on solutions instead of slamming the former Secretary of Labor

with a condescending statement that implies Perez isn't on the side of workers?

[SMC22307]

34. LOL @ "slamming."

His statement doesn't imply that all, it's how you're choosing to interpret it because you don't "like" Bernie. We get it, already. It was directed to Perez and the whole of the DNC -- the same DNC that has brought us record losses. We control a measly six states, an historic low. Why? Because many voters feel that the party has abandoned them.

Hey, here's an idea! Why not actually listen to Americans -- of all colors and collars -- and come up with solutions, rather than obsess over one Bernard Sanders?

[pnwmom]

27. The ones who are sowing division are those pretending that the Secretary of LABOR

isn't strongly pro-labor, despite his long record on both labor and civil rights.

[SMC22307]

35. No one is doing that. (n/t)

[pnwmom]

36. EVERYONE who thinks that it's okay to deliver a mini-lecture to Tom Perez

on supporting workers is doing that.

[SMC22307]

38. Let's break this down, shall we?

Bernie congratulated Tom and said he looks forward to working with him. YIKES! He pointed out Republican dominance at federal and state levels. GASP! He rightly pointed out that the "same-old, same-old" is not working and that we need to focus on the helping the 99% and stop sucking up to the 1%. Bring in young people, too. And fight for "social, racial, economic and environmental justice." THE BASTARD!

Yeah, "EVERYONE" will live.

The Democratic Party has fucked up -- SIX STATES. If people are going to get their panties in a wad over a statement by Bernie Sanders about wanting the DNC to do the right thing, then perhaps they're not cut out for politics.

[vlyons]

29. It's just another damned Trump-GOP lie

If the GOP really wanted to open up to working people, it would put some labor leaders on the RNC, raise the minimum wage, legislate equal pay for women, and fight states right-to-work laws. But we know this won't happen. So what this really means is fear-monger white blue-collar workers that scarey black and brown people are taking their jobs. So they'll put the black ones in prison and deport the brown ones.

I think Trump is very very frightened by the Perez-Ellison leadership. Nothing scarier than accomplished, competent, and smart black and brown people. And well he should be frightened. We're going to clean his clock.

[Nevernose]

41. No

It's an appeal to the DNC to focus on the folks who donate $27 and not $27 million. Pretty simple.

Sanders didn't knock Perez, he stated his preference for the future of the Democratic Party. The new chair is, indeed, a minority. So was Sanders' preferred candidate, so the attempted accusation of bigotry is bullshit.

Trump did better with black & Latino Americans than did Romney or McCain, so we are clearly doing something wrong. Not willing to face up to that will just keep us losing elections.

[Barack_America]

42. Are you able to post anything that isn't an attack on Sanders?

Or are you pretty much just a one topic poster?

Is it fun skating a TOS violation with every OP?

[QC]

43. No. n/t

[killbotfactory]

44. Step 1: throw shade at Bernie and his supporters

Step 2: ???
Step 3: unity!