Luis Gutierrez on Democrats' Priorities

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL 4th) allegedly was so incensed that Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 12th) is willing to de-link DACA from budget negotiations that he has threatened to walk out of the Democrat Caucus.  Mainstream media pundits presume that Republicans will have trouble retaining control of Congress because of disgruntled members exposing fractures in party unity.   Gutierrez's threat indicates that trouble in getting out the vote and maintaining party unity also is applicable for Democrats. 

Wags wonder if this threat is as believable as Gutierrez excuse for walking out of President Trump's State of the Union to be positioned for post SOTU standups rather than reacting to the chamber resounding in chants of "USA". 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Persisting in Pink Pussy Hats

A year after the enormous post Inaugural Women Who Hate Trump March, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tried to rally the troops by insisting that women politically persist in pink pussy hats.




This exhortation reveals Senator Warren's long-term political strategy and intimates one direction the Democrat party is being pushed.  In 2017, "the Resistance" seemed organized to appeal to agitating identity groups.  There were attempts to have various constituency groups demonstrating against the Trump Administration and highlighting their priorities.  There was even a Scientists March on Washington.  But this impetus seems to have fizzled out and American politics was not transformed into  a balkanized European Democratic socialist schema.

Between the Beltways, it has long been understood that Senator Elizabeth Warren hopes to make a run for the White House.  This "Persist in Pussy Hats" speech gives indication that she is hitching her wagon on women power with elements of  "the Resistance" but not harping on Trump hate.  But this plan depends upon Warren being re-elected to the Senate in 2018 and that is not a sure thing.

The meta-strategy of rallying identity groups for victory is facile.  Women showed up for a one day big rally, but did not remain organized throughout the year. And besides, Democrats seem more keen on catering to illegal immigrants for DACA than using feminist politics as a harbinger for change. The question is how identity politics will further reshape the Democrat party. Joe Kennedy III's State of the Union rebuttal leaned south, by championing transgendered rights and assisting "undocumented citizens".

Sheriff David Clarke on the Congressional Black Caucus