What to Do About the Leadership Void Atop the Democratic Party

The Last Time We Were This Leaderless We Picked Mike Dukakis As Our Candidate

It’s the end of another week. I have thoughts. Pithy ones.

• What happened to Joe Biden? He just disappeared. Poof. The media has treated Donald Trump as though he has been president since the day after the election. I don’t really blame them. Because he has been acting that way. The world has been going along with it. And Biden has been silent as a church mouse. Never seen a presidential fade to black like this in my lifetime.

• What happened to Kamala Harris? I know she is entitled to a little post-election R&R. But the Democratic Party is leaderless. In fact, it has not been this leaderless since probably the 1980s. And everything we are learning about the election is testimony to the great job she did in a very short time. She can be a leading voice and should be. Maybe that means setting up a PAC. Maybe it means running for something again in the next four years. But she revealed herself to be a great talent and those are in short supply.

• When I say leaderless, I don’t mean there are not people who are capable of leading. They are just not in a position to lead right now. There are multiple reasons for this. Two are above. Others include the fact that the entrenched old guard in the party are, as Biden was, reluctant to give way to the next generation. See Nancy Pelosi’s reported moves this week to try to keep AOC, one of the most important rising leaders of the party, out of the top Dem slot on the House Oversight Committee. Pelosi is an American hero. She is also 84. She should be cultivating and assisting next gen leaders and I don’t by that mean folks in their 70s.