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As the Democratic Caucus Ponders Connolly's Replacement, Some Thoughts. [1]
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Date: 2025-05-28
I HOPE they don’t do a co-leader thing.
I was reading Alex Samuels’ diary, “Will House Democrats pick seniority or a shake-up?” and reading the comments beneath, I came upon a short one by Dillonfence, speculating on who might get the Oversight Commitee job next, and suggested the caucus might consider co-leadership in an effort to give Lynch his perceived ‘turn’ at leadership (which he’s made clear he wants) and still bring in fresh blood — Jasmine Crockett. Crockett is 44 — not young, but when one considers the average age of the Dem leadership since 2008, she is still a baby in comparison, in a group with a median age of 57.5-58 (Pew’s latest demographic analysis).
And I kinda cringed.
Because the new committee chair choice just might go that way, since the Democratic leadership is so loath to pass the reigns of power on to the younger generations and still dreaming of the old days when the two parties would work together for the good of the country, rather presenting one side trying to govern while the other side is shucking, jiving, grifting, and lying as FAST AND AS LOUDLY AS THEY CAN.
It’s bothered me for a long time that House leadership would rather die in office than retire (Feinstein and Pascrell being the first ones who come to mind, with the latest being Connolly).
Although, to be absolutely fair, a whole lot of the Dems (and Republicans) who have died in office since 2000, have died of cancer (#1 cause of death since 2000), surgical complications, or accidents (wonder if anyone has ever looked into why, so many succumb to cancer?).
Now, about choosing the ‘next one in line”, as if Congressional leadership opportunities should be offered based on seniority and not merit or ability and desire to do the job: we need to face facts. The days of patronage and position in the queue outweighing the advancement of fresh talent, fresh ideas, and fiery political will, of people who are ready to meet the moment rather than follow the plan or SOP, are over. They MUST be: the country can’t afford to drag along the same well-worn paths, the muddy ruts, any more. Relying on being the next in line, to me, has never seemed to come from a place of service, but from a place of serving one’s ego. Thus I think Lynch wants to be the one out in front, leading the band. I think Crockett wants to help and has a plan to motivate folk. More to the point, people will follow Crockett, they’ll think about what she’s trying to get them to do. She radiates support — But Lynch? I don’t know. Like I said, I had no idea who he was, beyond him being appointed interim ranking member after Connolly’s death.
When in crisis, you don’t give a critical or strategic job to the person who’s been waiting for his/her turn for years, you give it to the person who has the will, the ideas, the organizational skills to push things forward, the desire to get things done, who the public likes and respects, and will fight back, fight FOR right, FIGHT HARD. You look at how what a person’s done, how sustainable the effort has been, what they do when a path is blocked. Not how long they’ve been waiting in the wings for something to drop in their lap. I feel that last describes Lynch. I didn’t even know who that was or who he represented when I saw his name, but I sure as heck know who Jasmine Crockett represents and where she’s from, and what she’s had to contend with.
Bottom line: being a senior member of the caucus does not automatically translate to the best person for the job, or the wisest, or the most motivated when you consider what’s happening outside of Congress, never mind inside it, with the MAGA GOP in charge.
Full disclosure: I understand the ‘wait your turn’ crowd’s viewpoint, for what that’s worth. I’m a Boomer research scientist — and dog knows I don’t want to be old, over, past my expiry date or pushed to a spot where I get told I should be resting on my laurels. I want to be out there leading the parade: I’m not ready to slow down. But my body’s got other plans. The world has moved on faster than I can consistently or quickly keep up with, professionally. While I love every day that I can pick up scientific journals in my field and find my work still being cited all over the place, or someone’s student reaches out to ask me something, or I find that I have some influence on social media it’s a nice ego boost. But at the same time, there are new paths being explored beyond where I went, new ideas I never considered — new ways of doing. I’m surprised every day, and I learn something new that, when I go back to review my work, helps me find something new, another way to look at it.
All this “all about me” is to make a point : while I can fight, I can help plan and help execute, I’m no longer the one to be pushing the envelope. Nor should I be. There are people who have a better view of what’s doing right now, than I do or ever will again. I have the history and experience, but not the best plan. Or even a good one. I can help: I want to help. And I will. With the plan devised by the best people for the job.
I just wish senior Dem leadership understood what that truly means and how it impacts their ‘place’ and control. It seems to me they don’t. They don’t realize that one should never get too comfortable with a few ways of thinking, of being, that work most, but not all, of the time. One develops a bad habit of starting there first, because it’s easy (sound familiar?) and they end up always behind. You know, maybe like something Chuck Schumer and others have done lately, when they should have been kicking butts and taking names rather than voting for cloture on some crap legislation or affirming some of FOTUS’ worst picks for the cabinet.
With Congressional leadership, fresh eyes and fresh perspectives are what’s needed now, because comity flew out the window and got stomped on when Trump dragged his felonious, lying, whining, criming-all-over-the-place a$$ back into the oval with his criminal cohorts, cos-playing clowns, and nutbar legal, medical, military,security, and intelligence “experts” (who are anything but).
Our aging Democratic Centrist leadership just does not seem to get that these are no longer normal times, that the Republican party, now the MAGA-GOP, is all-in on fascism and Putin-worship, defiantly anti-democracy, or that this time, the MAGA-GOP are FINE with torching norms, rule of law, and the Constitution. Being older, experienced, and ‘seasoned’ does not necessarily lead to fresh perspectives, the will and the passion to fight, or help the country find alternative ways of dealing with challenges that don’t include lying back and taking what the flying monkeys are flinging in our faces, unchallenged, then writing a “sternly worded” letter in response. F*** that.
We have been shown that this time, there is no law FOTUS and the “Gang-that-can-barely-walk-and-chew-gum” won’t break, no rights they won’t stomp on or deny, no people — citizen or no — that they won’t persecute, arrest, terrorize, or rendition to a black site they coyly call a foreign ‘detention camp’ in a country that the person snatched off the streets has not been to or even know how to speak the language. Due process: that’s optional or verboten now — Dear Leader said so, and is ignoring the courts.
I don’t want to see the party wasting another 4 years pretending to patience and offering bipartisan governing that they can never make happen while MAGA Trumplicans burn the country down — it’s making me crazy.
Truth is, ‘normal’ ain’t happening ever again — the GOP we grew up around is dead and long gone. We must find a new way of governing, of being, stiffen our spines, pull up our pants and tighten our belts for this bumpy ride we’re on: this habit of the leadership running the same scripts over and over and over again, seeking a different outcome, and playing seniority games when we need shogi or chess players and someone to identify and place strategic pieces — well you know what they say ...
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