Keith Ellison: Obama’s Popularity Was ‘Fuel That We Lived On’ and So We ‘Lost a Lot’

Congressman Keith Ellison, candidate for DNC Chair, believes that Democrats lost “a lot” because the party relied too much on the popularity and rhetoric of President Obama.

He spoke with Vox’s Ezra Klein about why Democrats have seen such big losses under President Obama, and he said, “We treat it like it’s not the Democratic National Committee, we treat it like it’s the Democratic Presidential National Committee… We have not really had the outreach and the door knocking and the engagement year-round that we need to have.”

And Ellison even made this observation:

“We did pretty well in 2006, we did pretty well in 2008. I think that’s because we still had enough connectivity in place from that 50-state strategy, but as time wore on, the tremendous popularity of Barack Obama, his amazing rhetorical skills, his just unparalleled ability to explain things and to inspire people really is the fuel that we lived on. Because of that, we lost a lot.”

He told Klein, “As we were kind of focusing on our champion… President Obama, the other side was actually thinking creatively about how they can really dominate on the state level and on the local level.”

Klein also asked Ellison about the big “identity politics” debate in the Democratic party right now over the party’s priorities. Ellison said that social inclusion and economic inclusion should both be important.

You can listen to the full interview above (the relevant discussion begins at the 12-minute mark), via The Ezra Klein Show.

[image via U.S. Congress]

— —

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!