The Party Mess
2012-04-19 - by
It’s said that “academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” So it is with internal party politics.
David Parker has been inside the Democratic Party long enough to know what happens when you stumble: All the old feuds, jealousies and resentments – and the sharp knives – come out. Every enemy you’ve ever made gets even.
So now he’s a zombie. Defiant, but the walking dead. Soon the Obama campaign will push him out. Then the party will find another chair and executive director. It will get itself organized – as organized as any state party ever gets. And Parker will be an easy scapegoat if the November elections turn out to be a second wave of the 2010 tsunami.
Parker thought he could keep the lid on a sex scandal. Earth to David: Do you know anything about the world we live in? As long as there is email, there are no secrets. Especially when they’re juicy.
A Democratic lawyer friend said: “David handled this just like a good lawyer would. Which is why we lawyers make such lousy managers.”
At the least, Parker should have talked to elected officials and party leaders when this mess happened. To protect himself, if nothing else. But, someone might say, it would all get out. Yes, it would: my point exactly.
Two simple lessons: You have to be transparent. And when things go wrong, fall forward fast.
If you don’t get that, get out of politics. It’s time for Parker to go – and for the party to move on.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
The Party Mess
2012-04-19/
It’s said that “academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” So it is with internal party politics.
David Parker has been inside the Democratic Party long enough to know what happens when you stumble: All the old feuds, jealousies and resentments – and the sharp knives – come out. Every enemy you’ve ever made gets even.
So now he’s a zombie. Defiant, but the walking dead. Soon the Obama campaign will push him out. Then the party will find another chair and executive director. It will get itself organized – as organized as any state party ever gets. And Parker will be an easy scapegoat if the November elections turn out to be a second wave of the 2010 tsunami.
Parker thought he could keep the lid on a sex scandal. Earth to David: Do you know anything about the world we live in? As long as there is email, there are no secrets. Especially when they’re juicy.
A Democratic lawyer friend said: “David handled this just like a good lawyer would. Which is why we lawyers make such lousy managers.”
At the least, Parker should have talked to elected officials and party leaders when this mess happened. To protect himself, if nothing else. But, someone might say, it would all get out. Yes, it would: my point exactly.
Two simple lessons: You have to be transparent. And when things go wrong, fall forward fast.
If you don’t get that, get out of politics. It’s time for Parker to go – and for the party to move on.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats