The former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ed Rendell, said his party was subpar on the messaging front in the recent elections, and that’s why the losses were so significant. And he’s not alone in that assessment.
Former DNC head Howard Dean said similarly during an NBC interview in which he wondered aloud bluntly: “Where the hell is the Democratic party?”
Simply put, Democrats failed to show how President Obama and the party at-large were successful in leading the nation down a path of progress and success in recent years, Mr. Rendell said, The Hill reported.
“We did a lousy job — we did a piss-poor job of giving voters a message,” Mr. Rendell said during a radio interview with New York station host John Catsimatidis, The Hill reported. “We tried to run against the Republicans, run against the do-nothing Congress, run against individual governors to say the things they had done poorly. But we didn’t have a good national brand. And there is no reason for that.”
Basically, he said Democrats focused too much on the negatives of Republicans and not enough on the positives of Democrats.
“We need to develop a brand and fight back,” he said, The Hill reported. “Too often, our campaigns are all about — ’they want to take away women’s rights, they want to take away voting rights.’”
The mantra about poor messaging was repeated by another former DNC chairman on “Meet the Press” on NBC — Mr. Dean.
“Where the hell is the Democratic party? You got to stand for something if you want to win,” Mr. Dean said, The Hill reported. “The Republicans’ message was, ’We’re not Obama.’ What was the Democrat’s message? ’Oh well, we really aren’t either.’ “
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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