Dems in Disarray™, Alabama-style
December 16, 2019 12:51 AM Subscribe
The Alabama Democratic Party has long been controlled by Joe Reed (head of the Alabama Democratic Conference), who allied himself with Nancy Worley, the chairperson of the state party. Podcast Reply All's Emmanuel Dzotsi does a three part investigation into what happened after Doug Jones won his Senate seat, reinvigorating the party but disturbing the status quo.
- The Real Enemy - Part 1
- The Real Enemy - Part 2 - A Third Faction Emerges
- The Real Enemy - Part 3 - DNC intervention
He comes off as epically unable/unwilling to read the room. Which is a bit weird for a politician, but pretty on brand for a cishet white dude.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:18 AM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:18 AM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
I don't live in Alabama anymore, and was happy to listen to this last week. I knew the Alabama Democratic Party needed reform, knew some reform had happened, but wasn't aware of the details.
I tried to get involved in the Alabama 2018 mid-terms and it was a complete shit-show. Calls and emails to the state party asking where my time and (admittedly meager) money would be best spent were unanswered. The couple Democratic candidates who showed up at our door were honest about how lonely they felt, and we lived in one of the more competitive state house/senate districts (probably not top tier but winnable in a swing).
I did get in contact with the county party and received some direction there. They laughed when I (a temporary Alabaman) mentioned my trouble with the state party. They all knew better. This was so bizarre to me, as I was getting calls, emails, and texts from states I'd previously lived in.
Alabama's gonna Alabama and Democrats there should never hold their breath, but if there was ever a moment for progress 2018 seemed likely to be it. In the end it was an ass-kicking.
I can't imagine a scenario where Doug Jones gets reelected, and I doubt he can either. A Roy Moore 3rd party run? I still think he gets beaten soundly. However, he got there two years ago and needed every single Democrat in Alabama on side to make it happen. He did it without any preexisting statewide structure and his campaign cobbled it together. Even with Roy Moore's garbage he needed absolutely everyone. He got them. I think he knows that room better than anybody.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 6:11 AM on December 16, 2019 [11 favorites]
I tried to get involved in the Alabama 2018 mid-terms and it was a complete shit-show. Calls and emails to the state party asking where my time and (admittedly meager) money would be best spent were unanswered. The couple Democratic candidates who showed up at our door were honest about how lonely they felt, and we lived in one of the more competitive state house/senate districts (probably not top tier but winnable in a swing).
I did get in contact with the county party and received some direction there. They laughed when I (a temporary Alabaman) mentioned my trouble with the state party. They all knew better. This was so bizarre to me, as I was getting calls, emails, and texts from states I'd previously lived in.
Alabama's gonna Alabama and Democrats there should never hold their breath, but if there was ever a moment for progress 2018 seemed likely to be it. In the end it was an ass-kicking.
I can't imagine a scenario where Doug Jones gets reelected, and I doubt he can either. A Roy Moore 3rd party run? I still think he gets beaten soundly. However, he got there two years ago and needed every single Democrat in Alabama on side to make it happen. He did it without any preexisting statewide structure and his campaign cobbled it together. Even with Roy Moore's garbage he needed absolutely everyone. He got them. I think he knows that room better than anybody.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 6:11 AM on December 16, 2019 [11 favorites]
I didn't walk away feeling like Doug Jones was, as the first poster put it, "a villanous gift from the narrative gods". Jones strikes me as a frustrated middle-manager, especially in the second episode when he steps on the toes of would be reformers.
What I think is really compelling is the way that the sins of slavery continue to reverberate. Joe Reed is right to be in a defensive crouch, even when it clearly doesn't make sense to be there. Give an inch and they'll take more than a mile- They'll take the whole mile and make you work it until you die. The lack of trust, the calcification of power, the continuing tensions of race relations in America are all here and they're tearing Alabama democrats apart with no clear way out.
The horrifying thing is that it then leaves the facists who, duh, are happily in lockstep a huge window to wander in and destroy what's left of Alabama's democratic process. I genuinely do not know how to solve this problem.
posted by GilloD at 7:21 AM on December 16, 2019 [10 favorites]
What I think is really compelling is the way that the sins of slavery continue to reverberate. Joe Reed is right to be in a defensive crouch, even when it clearly doesn't make sense to be there. Give an inch and they'll take more than a mile- They'll take the whole mile and make you work it until you die. The lack of trust, the calcification of power, the continuing tensions of race relations in America are all here and they're tearing Alabama democrats apart with no clear way out.
The horrifying thing is that it then leaves the facists who, duh, are happily in lockstep a huge window to wander in and destroy what's left of Alabama's democratic process. I genuinely do not know how to solve this problem.
posted by GilloD at 7:21 AM on December 16, 2019 [10 favorites]
Ultimately, those with power in an organization want to ensure they keep power, even when maintaining power conflicts with the other goals of that organization. This is the case even within the organization of a political party.
posted by SansPoint at 7:52 AM on December 16, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 7:52 AM on December 16, 2019 [4 favorites]
I think I came away with a slightly positive impression of Jones. He's trying to usher in a new era for the party in Alabama. Yes, he's an old white dude, and that's a problem, but the people he's bringing in with him seem like a pretty diverse coalition, and it seems like it's time for some new blood. However, he really doesn't come across as super-diplomatic, and that's a problem for a politician. I think had the situation been handled better, the new crop of Alabama Democrats could have built more of a bridge with the old guard and retained some of their institutional memory.
Definitely sympathized with Joe Reed and his allies in the African American community. If you've had a lifetime of being jerked around, you're going to stick with your allies. You're going to try and hold on to whatever gains you've been able to eke out. Total sympathy there.
Worley, however. Yuck. I think I was mostly sympathetic towards her until about 2/3 of the way through the interview, where she basically said that once Doug Jones asked her to step aside, that's when she decided to hang on and fight with everything she's got. Not because she cared about her constituents or the Alabama Democratic Party, but because her power and position were threatened. Gross. I mean, I don't doubt that Jones handled the situation badly, but it's really hard to make the case that she was doing a terrific job and deserved to stay in power.
posted by panama joe at 8:34 AM on December 16, 2019 [5 favorites]
Definitely sympathized with Joe Reed and his allies in the African American community. If you've had a lifetime of being jerked around, you're going to stick with your allies. You're going to try and hold on to whatever gains you've been able to eke out. Total sympathy there.
Worley, however. Yuck. I think I was mostly sympathetic towards her until about 2/3 of the way through the interview, where she basically said that once Doug Jones asked her to step aside, that's when she decided to hang on and fight with everything she's got. Not because she cared about her constituents or the Alabama Democratic Party, but because her power and position were threatened. Gross. I mean, I don't doubt that Jones handled the situation badly, but it's really hard to make the case that she was doing a terrific job and deserved to stay in power.
posted by panama joe at 8:34 AM on December 16, 2019 [5 favorites]
Panama joe, I hear what you are saying about Worley's intransigent resistance to change, but I read it as the individual version of the "Sez you!" culture described in the story.
My point exactly. Nowhere in there is she taking into consideration what's best for her state or her party. It's all about "You want me out? Well, I ain't leaving!" Pretty hard to sympathize with that. At some point, a leader needs to put their ego aside for the greater good. I have a hard time respecting someone who can't do that.
posted by panama joe at 3:01 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
My point exactly. Nowhere in there is she taking into consideration what's best for her state or her party. It's all about "You want me out? Well, I ain't leaving!" Pretty hard to sympathize with that. At some point, a leader needs to put their ego aside for the greater good. I have a hard time respecting someone who can't do that.
posted by panama joe at 3:01 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
You know, I listening to this Friday and I was frustrated the the journalist didn't dig to find out if the first act accusation of a $15,000 shake down was true. That's the way it's presented, but the narrator drops it like a hot rock after laying it out there and that undercut the story for me, which is basically tailored precisely to my interests otherwise. Frustrating!
posted by hilberseimer at 6:09 PM on December 16, 2019
posted by hilberseimer at 6:09 PM on December 16, 2019
she went from incompetent / possibly crooked to just plain a woman being threatened.
Condi Rice, irrespective of her affiliation with Bush Jr., seems very competent and able to answer her voicemails. Worley doesn't come off as some avatar of Alabama, she's someone who seems unemployable without a patron, fighting desperately to retain a job they don't really want to do.
posted by benzenedream at 12:46 AM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Condi Rice, irrespective of her affiliation with Bush Jr., seems very competent and able to answer her voicemails. Worley doesn't come off as some avatar of Alabama, she's someone who seems unemployable without a patron, fighting desperately to retain a job they don't really want to do.
posted by benzenedream at 12:46 AM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Gotanda: "It was good to get a reminder of the pols from Alabama: Condi Rice, Bobby Jindahl, Haley Barbour."
Jindal was born in Louisiana, and as far as I am aware, all of his elected positions were in Louisiana as well (he did serve in the W administration).
posted by Chrysostom at 11:24 AM on December 17, 2019
Jindal was born in Louisiana, and as far as I am aware, all of his elected positions were in Louisiana as well (he did serve in the W administration).
posted by Chrysostom at 11:24 AM on December 17, 2019
"It was good to get a reminder of the pols from Alabama: Condi Rice, Bobby Jindahl, Haley Barbour."
Not defending any of the Alabama Dems and their shit-show, but Haley Barbour is from Mississippi and Bobby Jindahl is from Louisiana. I know it's hard because we Southern states all look alike. :)
posted by mccxxiii at 5:02 PM on December 17, 2019
Not defending any of the Alabama Dems and their shit-show, but Haley Barbour is from Mississippi and Bobby Jindahl is from Louisiana. I know it's hard because we Southern states all look alike. :)
posted by mccxxiii at 5:02 PM on December 17, 2019
Full disclosure: I was all-in for Doug Jones in 2017, Chris England represents my hometown in the state lege, and our field office saw far more support from people like him, DNC staff, and even third-party organizers than we ever saw from the state party. And I'm reflexively skeptical when people invoke '60s Dixiecrats to slam the party, given most of the ones still alive are Republicans now.
That being said, the story does a good job eliciting sympathy for Reed and Worley's POV (and Jones definitely could have handled the situation more tactfully, especially his initial attempt at installing a white colleague under short notice). But ultimately political leaders must be judged by their results, and under their leadership the party was barely conducive -- if not a downright obstacle -- to Democratic success in Alabama. Even if one's only goal is maximizing black political representation, why fight to preserve Reed's control of the party when his trusted deputies show more concern with preserving their own internal party position than actually winning elections (or recruiting candidates, or running ads, or using social media, or answering the phone, or or or...)? And it's not like he's the only thing stopping the party from being whitewashed -- black voters constitute a solid majority of the Democratic electorate, and any Democratic candidate is completely dependent on black turnout to have any hope of winning (as the 2017 election showed). If anything, Reed's evocation of racial animus -- including painting the new chair of the state party as some kind of treacherous Uncle Tom figure -- is further dividing the party and making it more difficult for black Democrats to win elections and exercise real political power in the state. I've got no illusions about a Democratic renaissance here, but plenty of races are winnable, even without the unusual circumstances of the 2017 election, and the more unified we are, the more we'll be able to achieve.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:45 PM on December 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
That being said, the story does a good job eliciting sympathy for Reed and Worley's POV (and Jones definitely could have handled the situation more tactfully, especially his initial attempt at installing a white colleague under short notice). But ultimately political leaders must be judged by their results, and under their leadership the party was barely conducive -- if not a downright obstacle -- to Democratic success in Alabama. Even if one's only goal is maximizing black political representation, why fight to preserve Reed's control of the party when his trusted deputies show more concern with preserving their own internal party position than actually winning elections (or recruiting candidates, or running ads, or using social media, or answering the phone, or or or...)? And it's not like he's the only thing stopping the party from being whitewashed -- black voters constitute a solid majority of the Democratic electorate, and any Democratic candidate is completely dependent on black turnout to have any hope of winning (as the 2017 election showed). If anything, Reed's evocation of racial animus -- including painting the new chair of the state party as some kind of treacherous Uncle Tom figure -- is further dividing the party and making it more difficult for black Democrats to win elections and exercise real political power in the state. I've got no illusions about a Democratic renaissance here, but plenty of races are winnable, even without the unusual circumstances of the 2017 election, and the more unified we are, the more we'll be able to achieve.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:45 PM on December 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
State Rep. Chris England, the new chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, said today that the state party has raised more than $100,000 in the two months since he took over the party on Nov. 2, compared to only $8,000 the state Democrats raised in the last election cycle.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:06 AM on January 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:06 AM on January 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
That is awesome news!
posted by benzenedream at 1:41 PM on January 11, 2020
posted by benzenedream at 1:41 PM on January 11, 2020
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Especially as everyone else in the story is a complicated figure the production is hesitant to judge.
posted by zymil at 3:29 AM on December 16, 2019